Krait book 13a Music in the Mountains
by slytherinsal
Summary: Just a nice quiet year at Prince Peak - Marauders, a few fey, the rump of ODESSA and some unpleasant parents. Nothing to work up a sweat about... And Silvina is really finding her feet.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The ritual in Hogwarts had gone well; and Severus was glad. Now he might concentrate on his own school and building it up as a school of special talent without any further worry, whether over a friend's anxieties as Albus had obviously been anxious over the returning of the child ghost to a body; or over Odessa. There would be the irritation of having to be involved in the tenth anniversary celebrations of Voldemort's death; but it was to take place at the end of the Easter holidays and he would merely open the school a little late. That would, too, permit any of his pupils who wanted to do so, to attend the celebration at Hogwarts School.

It SHOULD be a good year; all the werewolves belonging to Odessa had been cured; Durmstrang was tentatively making alliance; and the German Ministry was more or less coming into line with civilisation.

Something was bound to go wrong; and Severus had no intention of rejoicing too soon. Still, he smiled in grim satisfaction, there were few things that they could not weather; they had after all had rather a lot of practice!

Next year would bring a few problems; but ones he might in a way be pleased about. For Albus Dumbledore was standing down as headmaster of Hogwarts and had named David Fraser as his successor. Severus would need a new teacher of Care of Magical Beasts; and too someone to teach Comparative Magic as David's wife Ellie would, obviously, go with him. And a new teacher of Geomancy too; since David taught that as a voluntary subject.

Severus brightened.

Ross Tuthill and his girlfriend Heather Burns might take over the care of beasts and geomancy respectively; and Ross's sister Freya might teach Comparative Magic. She would do so with the sort of efficiency that imparted more facts than style, but they might work on that gently in the staff room. Last he heard, Freya had become an Unspeakable, working in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry. Well give her nearly a year round and even the irrepressible Miss Tuthill should be screaming up the wall at the lackadaisical attitudes and reactionary outlook of the researchers of the wizarding world. She had already sent one of her superiors to Lucius to uncurse an item that had been troubling the ministry for four hundred years, and Lucius had told Severus that all it required was forty minutes of concentrated chanting and another four hours of consolidating chanting and that nearly-ten-year-old Lilith could have done it. Knowing Lucius he probably compared the ministry unfavourably to Lilith's skills to the fellow who had asked him if he could uncurse it; he had certainly picked it up and tossed it at the poor man – because he had chuckled wickedly to Severus about that – and the look on the face of the ministry man as he automatically caught what had been too dangerous to handle. Lucius had a warped sense of humour; and Severus grinned to himself. Yes, given such pedestrian attitudes, Freya would be ready to almost beg to come to a school which also had a post-NEWT annexe for individual research guided by the staff, almost all of whom had done post-NEWT levels of research while they were studying for OWLs because the consequence of failure meant Voldemort winning; and that was rather worse than facing the sternest parent with a sheet full of 'T' grades.

They were to have several new teachers this year.

Valerie Burdock, of Obscura Alley, and educated in the free school, was to take on the teaching of Herbology. She was replacing Annett who was sorting out a new school for Jade to teach German goblins and those of a blood status not yet to be welcomed into Durmstrang. Valerie was enthusiastic and was not about to let her background cow her when teaching what she might once have termed 'posh kids'; she declared she was looking forward to the experience of travelling and passing on the subject she loved. She had also come highly recommended by Myrtle, who considered her potentially one of the most talented herbologists of her age.

Godfrey Goodchild would be teaching Music; he was not from a wealthy family either, and was a protégé of Jade's. His twin older siblings were musically talented in a rather pedestrian sort of way; and their parents had lavished all their attention on them. They did not know enough to realise that of their four children, Godfrey was by far and away the most talented. He had, by his own desires, ended up in Slytherin House not the traditional Ravenclaw since Jade had befriended him in Diagon Alley. Such things can change lives. Jade had conned Lucius into paying for extra music lessons for the boy and now he was simultaneously to research music in magic, alongside Seagh, and teach the musical in school. And he would have a ready made class in the fourth, with Julian Finch, Silvina Brewer, and Sara Barbary, transferring from Hogwarts for the purpose. It was an acknowledgement that music, whilst used in chanting, should be a separate subject too.

Thinking of Chanting, Severus was glad to be freed more time to teach the senior classes; Lee Nuffield had wed Dimsie Burke, and she was to take over the teaching of junior potions. Miss Bat would continue teaching the junior classes for one more year and then, thankfully, she would retire. She had learned a lot, which proved that she was a game old biddy for an aged witch; but she was becoming physically frail. She would continue to pursue her own researches as his pensioner and would play the piano if required so she still felt part of the school. Severus smiled ruefully; understanding more clearly how Albus had felt about that silly old fool Trelawney. At least the Bat was not dangerous to her own pupils though with spurious fortune telling – and moreover actually had the wellbeing of her pupils at heart! And their own Miss Gimlet was not too bad and was at least down to earth, not given to sighing, mooning about, and declaring doom in the tones of a dying duck in a thunderstorm like Trelawney. Yes, Miss Bat was all right too; and deserving of a rest when Lydia had finished school and took over all the chanting classes. Lydia was capable of teaching to the little ones as well as to the most advanced. After all, she had been responsible for the first few candidates who had taken the exam at Hogwarts! Not to mention fuelling the enthusiasm of the Belle Marauders to pull any number of complex japes. At least the Prince Peak Marauders were not quite so…..effervescent as those at Hogwarts. Though what influence Lydia might have in firing their enthusiasms had yet to be seen. She would be marrying her Viktor Krumm next year; and he was already to be teaching full time this year, having retired from playing international Quidditch on the high note of a winning season for his unpronounceable home town as well as a good record for Bulgaria in the few matches played towards the next World Cup. But there were faster seekers now; and Viktor preferred to quit while he was ahead and coach future players. He too was to be responsible for arranging some school matches against local Austrian and Swiss teams, to give the professional teams some practice as well as helping to hone the skills of the school children; some of whom would be developing quidditch as their special talent. It was not a talent Severus would have considered for his school; had not Lydia fallen in love with Viktor and suggested it. And Viktor had jumped at the chance to continue to be involved with quidditch; and was, like David, planning on taking referee's exams in addition. David indeed would arrive back when he arrived back; he was refereeing a match between the Gorodok Gargoyles and the Beauvais Broomwonders starting the day before term began; and might or might not be ready to return to school in time. Last time these teams had met the game lasted four days. Severus was happy to be flexible about such things, because the children loved the kudos of having an international referee as a teacher. And for David it was a hobby he loved; and he did his best to make sure all the matches he covered were in the school holidays. And he and Ron and Viktor all got on well together; which was as well. Quidditch could cause ego problems. But Ron and David had been on Gryffindor's team together as well as flying against Bulgaria for the friendly; and both admired Viktor and now loved him as a brother since he was also of the Blood Kindred.

And academe would not be neglected; Jade had done some original translations when she was in Durmstrang and had sent her conclusions to Hercule Maxime to look over as well as to her father. It was exciting; and relied on Jade knowing improvements he, Severus, had made to potions to work out some very early logograms in the earliest Bactrian writings, some of the first writings wizardkind had!

It would be nice to get a big symposium of professors together to exchange ideas over a couple of weeks; perhaps NEXT summer holidays!

It had been sweet that Ritter Nachtigall turned up with his son Heinrich, and some Dutch boy and his father named De Witt begging Severus to break curses on the boys. The German boy made sounds like a train shunting, including uncontrolled whistling, and the Dutch boy appeared to have become a half troll. Apparently after trying all the German curse breakers the men had taken their sons to England and were told that Severus Snape was the greatest curse breaker in the world. Severus readily recognised the work of Jade; and calmly informed the men that it would cost them – ten thousand galleons each, that would be enough, he explained with unholy glee, to put four impoverished goblins of talent through school.

Nachtigall started blustering at this point; and Severus smiled, steepling his fingers.

"Well, you can always ask Nefrita Von Strang to do it instead" he murmured mildly "I expect she would charge you a similar amount; she's planning on starting a free school for goblins and muggleborn. I AM the greatest cursebreaker in the world, but you could try another I suppose. And for every swear word, the price goes up a thousand galleons; you now owe me eleven thousand. I am a personal friend of your brother Friedolf so your personal discomfort is as nothing to me."

De Witt paid up; there was no way his son could marry looking like a troll and his line was important to him. And as he had NOT sworn, being wiser than either his friend or his son, his fee had not gone up and he looked surprised and pleased when Severus handed back the extra thousand that he thought had included him too. Klaas was soon restored to his normal, rather porky form. Nachtigall was impressed, despite himself; others had performed rituals to no avail, but Severus made undoing the curse look relatively easy. Grumpily he too promised to pay up – to Heinrich's distinct and whistling relief – and Severus walked round the boy chanting in English until the shunting noises stopped and Heinrich said

"I'm cured! NOW we'll see about dealing with that bitch!"

"Touch the Von Strang girl – either of you – and the curse will return" said Severus "I left inside both of you the curse seed that will re-install it if you seek revenge in ANY fashion. I know your sort; you doubtless deserved every minute you have spent being cursed."

"I'm not paying up if it's not fully gone" said Nachtigall.

Heinrich suddenly started shunting and whistling again.

"Have your own way" said Severus shrugging.

Heinrich actually knelt to beg him, having no other more articulate means.

"The price went up another thousand" said Severus.

This time Nachtigall came through with the cash; and Heinrich had the sense to say nothing but a muttered and unwilling word of thanks.

Severus smiled on him.

"See how much nicer it is to be a nice polite young man" he said "And I shouldn't wonder if you apologised to Fraulein Von Strang she might even let you take your ZH's at her free school when she has it up and running. She's a prickly piece but willing to go the extra mile for those who see the error of their ways."

It was NOT going to happen; but he wanted it made clear that Jade was likely to go out of her way for them if either did change his ways. Severus had placed an extra curse on Klaas de Witt as he cured him of being a troll; for Jade had told him about the boy, and now the youth would feel sick revulsion of any sadistic ideas he had; which might perhaps make life better for those around him even if it did not cure him entirely of being nasty.

The post-NEWT annexe was opening formally for the first time, and Severus had asked the students for that to arrive a full day before the body of the school, to settle in, in peace before, as he put it, the screaming hordes arrived. Three of his own students were staying on; Seagh was to be joined by Angelica Hellibore pursuing medical transfiguration, curse breaking and chanting and Alison Plank wished to take her Arithmancy further. She had only taken 'E' in the NEWT – having gained 'O' at the other four NEWTs she took – and also wished to pursue potions with a view to improving existing potions. Severus wondered how far she might get; she was academic and ambitious but he wondered if she had the imagination. Still, she had blossomed over her sixth form years and had lightened up considerably so there was a chance she might well develop.

Miles Grant would too be following in his brother's footsteps; he had pulled up his game in his last year at Hellibore's with aid from the Snapes during holidays, and wanted to study more esoteric subjects like Comparative Magic and Geomancy; and he planned too to study Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. His brother Cenric was to teach Ancient Runes at Hellibores this year, so that at least the students there had a grounding. Miles would, too, be joining in the more esoteric post-NEWT discussions; Cenric had picked up a lot informally the year before and continued to visit socially too.

There were none this year from Hogwarts; of those students likely to be pursuing education past NEWT level, Freya Tuthill had trustingly believed that a Ministry research department would research; Mortimer Bane was studying on a practical level, brewing potions alongside Pete Thomson Prince; and Mei Chang was volunteering in a free school in Birmingham that taught three subjects to OWL. Having seven NEWTs at 'O' grade, Mei was cheerfully teaching both DADA and Arithmancy in a school that had managed Charms, Potions and History. Mortimer was more likely to be teaching in a school in Germany when he married Annett Breuer. As the German school would take goblins and part goblins his status as part goblin would be reassuring for the pupils that such heights might be achieved. And to that school would also go, to teach, Volodya Potishev, one of the friends Jade had made in Durmstrang, who was to be another post-NEWT student also studying intensively in Chanting, to bring it to a level at which he might teach it; and Volodya would also join Seagh and Godfrey researching the use of music in magic since he was almost single-mindedly musical. Severus had every intention of warning him to shrug off the vicissitudes of having tone deaf stupid pupils and live with the fact that nine children out of ten were dunderheads and of the rest only one in ten was in any way talented. It helped him in not losing his temper too often after all to just sigh and accept statistical evidence. That was five research students or those pursuing extra knowledge, not counting Godfrey who was teaching as well; and that was enough. Up to ten might be considered as the course became better known; but really for some of them he was but providing them with the subjects they had not had the advantage of at their own school.

Angelica arrived with her two younger brothers in tow, apologising for dumping some of the horde on the school – and the noisier ones at that – but declaring that she hated to think what they'd get up to left at home another twenty four hours. Severus grinned. AHHa was a Marauder and BaHH was likely to be; and he actually had to think to remember that their proper names were Angel and Bellamy. They might be banished to get into mischief with other residents of the castle and the Zorn twins, Sandalla and Svetlana who had also come a day early just in case of trouble, because of their status as effective princesses of the tiny magical country of Zorn. Which meant seven children of AHHa's age. BaHH had only Reinulf Grindler and Yrdl Breuer to get into trouble with in his age group though there were a further seven from the year below! Sarah Elliot had been escorted by her father the week before because he was being sent to Basra; a nervous appointment. The diplomat had been taken aback to arrive in the middle of an impromptu quidditch match, not having any idea that his daughter was a witch, and thinking it merely her artistic ability that had won her a scholarship; and Sarah had dragged him in to see the talking moving paintings that she was learning to paint for herself. Donald Elliot was much disturbed and taken aback to see magic demonstrably working; and Severus had shaken his hand heartily and praised his forethought in grounding Sarah so well in Mathematics as it was almost identical to wizarding Arithmancy but merely with a different emphasis, spoke with enthusiasm for the child's mother's talent and showed Elliot around, explaining firmly the parallels with muggle subjects and emphasising how the laws of physics applied if in a somewhat different aspect. He had even persuaded a bemused Donald Elliot to leave a lock of his hair for their Divination teacher to check from time to time as he was in a rather risky place, for Sarah's peace of mind.

"Of course, Miss Gimlet is not quite good enough to be an insurance diviner" Severus explained "They require sixty per cent accuracy of course; as one might expect. Miss Gimlet just fails; her average is fifty seven per cent on lifespan predictions. The teacher at Hogwarts has a better than seventy per cent rate, and only took up teaching when she was widowed as she and her husband ran a firm of insurance wizards. But Miss Gimlet has an eighty one per cent accuracy with weather prediction and a better prediction rate over safety and life expectancy over the families of those she knows personally. It's a fuzzy study at worst; but we teach it for the few – the very few – talented and true seers. Frankly, it's a class not pursued past the second year save for those looking for a softish option to increase their qualifications and for those with the odd wild talent – dowsers for example. And dowsing is a well paid job, so I'd be unfair not to offer the option for those rare people."

"Are you telling me prophecies actually WORK?" scoffed Elliot.

"Between you and me, my personal theory is that a prophecy only becomes fulfilled if one of the people named in it goes out of their way to force the issue, either by going along with it or trying to negate it" said Severus "The Department of Mysteries is full of recordings of unfulfilled prophesies. To my mind it's largely bunk. Plenty of people have had public visions; but in such case, they have been fulfilled because those who have heard them have ACTED on them. If I may quote Star Wars, always in motion is the future; and we don't as yet really have a wizarding equivalent of the Chaos Theory to make sense of it. A young cousin of mine goes into trances and draws things that are imminent; and those I believe in because he picks up on trains of events already in motion. The kind of stuff that runs 'the child who is born as the seventh month dies whose parents have defied the Dark Lord three times shall be marked by him as his equal and neither can survive if the other lives' is dubious at best; but because the dark lord believed in that the prophesy became self-fulfilling and he picked which of two children that might mean, making my Ward into the prophecy to the great discomfort of the poor lad. Voldemort; a wizarding Hitler. We killed him ten years ago. Nasty type; torture, werewolves, that sort of thing. We have politics, diplomacy, power-mad would-be dictators and so on like muggles – non wizards. People are people. Most of them are stupid and a significant percentage of the rest are nasty. You know one of our diplomats, my wife's uncle, Lucius Malfoy; snide bastard but very good. I like him because I know him under the snide armour; and I'm snide too."

"Good God!" said Elliot. "Lucius Malfoy? Well he does dress strangely…. But he knows Margaret Thatcher!"

"Yes, she promised to lend us some SAS if we needed them to defeat Voldemort" said Severus calmly "She had retired from office as Prime Minister by then but she had the contacts still. We'd have issued them with enchanted bullets. Only we didn't, in the event, need them, which was as well; best not to involve muggles in our affairs. We, after all, don't interfere in yours. At least, those of us who are scrupulous don't; the manipulation of the SS and their mysticism was an aberration."

"Good God!" said Elliot again.

"You aren't going to be silly about it are you daddy?" said Sarah "It's why I can see fairies; 'cos I WASN'T lying about that. There's magical spells inherent in the genetic makeup of some magical beasts and others have to have them cast on them to make muggles not see them. Like Godrica, the griffon; she's Professor Fraser's pet."

Once Elliot had seen Godrica he had to believe; because, as he said, no puppet would SMELL like a er, flying lion with er, other stuff.

He left shaking his head in wonder and planning a long discussion with his wife – AND Lucius.

Volodya turned up next, smiled blindingly at Severus and took himself to the music room where he was shortly followed by Godfrey Goodchild, wanting music to pacify him after his parents had been grilling him on just how he came to have a job actually teaching in a prestigious private school. Godfrey had taken only three NEWTs but had gained them all at 'O' which had mightily upset his parents who considered him subnormal for choosing Slytherin House. They tried to belittle his NEWT in Chanting and as Godfrey pointed out that Lucius Malfoy placed a lot of credence in the subject, as he set the exam they were barking up the wrong tree there, unless they wanted to belittle the Ancient Runes exams that Lucius also sometimes set. As his other two subjects were Potions and Arithmancy, definitely academic subjects, his parents had subsided; and wondered how come their idiot younger son had done so much better than any of his siblings who had been in the properly academic House of Ravenclaw. Godfrey never intended to go home ever again.

Miles was last, apologising, because he had seen his brother to Hellibore's and had been asked to stay and look around at the new arrangement to accept limited co-education. Miles though it very silly not to go the whole way but he took Professor Hellibore's point that the parents of some girls wanted to ensure their little darlings reached being debutantes unkissed. Which was equally silly; but there you were. He HAD heard Professor Snape on the subject that most kids would be fine if they had no parents!

Seagh blew in that evening. He had been to Scotland, to the rath where his biological father ruled as chieftain with the main purpose of threatening the fey into staying out of his life as he chose to live amongst humans according to his rights. There had been a brief altercation during which Seagh had turned two of his bodyguard to stone and left most of the rest of the adult fey dangling from one ankle, bound, and with bats pouring out of their noses. His father had started backing off from the threats he had been making around then. Seagh had taunted him that nobody with a choice would live with a bunch of losers; and that even the low fey servants had deserted in droves once the self-punishment curse for disloyal thoughts had been dissolved. Seagh was proud to claim a part in that; to the howls of fury and anguish of the fey. Those low fey too timid to leave but now free to think as they chose gazed on him with awe and surreptitious approval. Perhaps they would learn the courage to escape some day. Seagh regarded them with a kindly eye and a sympathetic smile. Poor little bastards! He thought. Not so unlike house elves that they claimed to despise for their state of actual slavery!

Seagh planned to visit other Sidhe strongholds to learn about sidhe music; and then he would return that knowledge to the world he had chosen. After all, Seagh was fairly certain that the fey were, ultimately, doomed. While they held the strongest wild magic they could gain some concessions, force wizards to give them fresh blood from their own children; now the bloodgroup could oppose any number of fey without difficulty and they had researched magic beyond the understanding of wild, raggedy creatures whose use of magic was as instinctive as and hardly more controlled than the diricawl's ability to vanish in a puff of feathers. He returned with some satisfaction of a job done well; his biological father would not trouble him, or his kin; and was still, as he had ascertained by legilimency, too afraid of Dumbledore and Hogwarts to cause trouble there.

Seagh decided that one person he would look up would be Teague O'Toole of Ballyconny; the boy had left Hogwarts the year before him; and he had seelie court relatives. It was worth meeting them. And any European fey communities he might uncover too.

Severus gave a brief speech of welcome to the researchers.

"Basically you'll be having weekly tutorials with any appropriate professor – save those of you who are sitting in on set NEWT classes to add to your knowledge who will do that as well as or instead of tutorials. We shall also meet probably at least once a week to discuss anything you want to look at, if for example you're dissecting some problem and want to know if any of us have covered ground before or to ask if I know of some obscure book in the library that may not be obvious as a source for your requirements. We don't actually have a librarian I'm afraid; library use for the kids is a matter of honour that they behave responsibly, and though I believe I've catalogued everything fairly well, I don't guarantee to know every paragraph in every book yet. Seagh, Alison and Angelica know their way around the library fairly well and I suspect that Elsie Blackwood – that's Emily's friend, Miles – has read most of them; she's in the lower sixth this year. And if it could be in any way used for nefarious japes, either of Angelica's little brothers will be bound to have found such a book too" he added dryly. "I have an arrangement with Madam Bacsó of Durmstrang to borrow such texts they have that I do not; which is mostly in the matter of Ancient Runes. My daughter did some original research in the Durmstrang library and her findings ARE available to you in 'Translations and Text' and that's also relevant to those of you tracking down potioneering since she used some of MY improvements to help her find translations to previously unknown passages in Bactrian texts. We can also obtain books from Hogwarts; and I have permission for you to travel to Scotland to research in the library there if it becomes necessary with the proviso that you do not do so between the middle of the Spring Term and the Anniversary Celebrations as the school there has to prepare for half the British wizarding world descending on them to congratulate themselves that they survived the time when schoolkids dared fight Voldemort."

"Now why do I think you disapprove, sir?" grinned Miles. Severus gave him a wintry smile.

"Frankly, after fighting the contumelious little excrescence twice I'd as soon forget the whole business; as, I know, would Harry Potter. It's rather a bitter business for those of us – especially Harry – who were trying to tell the ministry that Voldemort was back and having them go out of their way to have him ridiculed in the press because having to believe he was telling the truth was too scary for them to cope with. He could have been stopped dead and with less trouble and less innocents dying two years earlier if only they had had the moral courage to move. Those of us who had to be undercover unnecessarily because of that do NOT find the air of smug self congratulation particularly edifying."

"That's me dad, me mam, and Lucius Malfoy if there's any of you don't know it" said Seagh dryly. "The ones who writhed under the cruciatus curse for the amusement of the foul little creep. This is why we get to have post NEWT studies; because half the higher magics in the world were rediscovered or invented by them and Harry's friends in order to have a better chance of winning; like developing ways to counter the killing curse."

"There's a way to counter the killing curse?" asked Volodya.

"It requires heavy Arithmancy" said Severus "Still, Jade says Arithmancy is your thing; it requires a specific number of air particles to be hardened and shaped to form a grid to diffuse the spell; I can demonstrate how it works with a lumos spell and a cardboard grill later. We had it in place without the Arithmancy; it was only perfected because my daughter Lilith is a bit of a genius and went tinkering arithmantically."

"But sir, Lilith's only ten!" said Alison, shocked.

"I have to keep reminding myself of that" said Severus. "She is remarkably talented. And her research has also made safer human transfiguration… you know, Alison, how she disrupted the year before you by leaving up an equation to solve that involved Gringott's loo being flushed."

"There is that" said Alison. "I guess growing up around you and Madam Malfoy does rather stretch any kid. And we're grateful, not only that you did what you did for the wizarding world but also for letting some of us reap the benefits by sharing your knowledge with us."

"It is rather nice to have students outside my own family who want to push the boundaries and who are interested in learning for its own sake" said Severus "And frankly, outside the school itself, we of the staff have discussed that it is ridiculous for you to be on any less than first name terms with us. Some of you may end up teaching; some doing further research – this year is designed, as much as anything else, to teach you HOW to research and how to organise your thoughts – or using your knowledge to work in a freelance capacity in your chosen sphere. Volodya will be teaching; Godfrey, you of course already are, and I thank you for that, Alison, you may end up producing high end potions or teaching; Miles, I believe you were thinking of teaching, after perhaps a brief career in quidditch – and having Viktor Krumm here will help you with that if you're still interested – and Angelica, I know you were considering both being a healer and teaching in your grandfather's school."

"I'd like to establish myself as a healer or curse breaker and then move back into teaching after some time out of school" said Angelica.

"It is desirable to have time in the real world rather than going from school to school" said Severus "Not always practical; I needed Godfrey in a hurry. And Godfrey is not so naïve about the real world as some of the more sheltered among you have been. Some of you may elect to stay on more than a year if you've run something particularly juicy to earth; if you're researching on your own without guidance or tutorials we can negotiate the cost of your board and keep then. Three of you are pushing the boundaries of music and there is already little I can teach you in that – save in how it relates to chanting and in chanting itself. Seagh is using the fact that he is part fey to seek fey musical secrets for you; in many ways he is giving you as many tutorials as I. Alison, you will work predominantly with me, with some discussions with Krait; and Krait will also be working with you, Angelica. Miles, you're adding general depth. I'd like you to discuss with Viktor, Ron and David the possibility of putting together a Quidditch OWL that could be a starting point for those who wish to play, or referee or coach. A formal qualification gives something a bit more academic to those who can do little but drive a broom; and may give them an advantage in being accepted for further training."

"That's a jolly good idea sir" said Miles "There's plenty of people who love the game and are no good at playing; but it need not stop them being good coaches just because there are others better than them. And for that matter it might make them better sports reporters; especially if there's to be more matches in obscure places broadcast by Wizarding Wireless Vision."

"Exactly" said Severus.

"Shall we also learn general higher magic stuff like you wrote about in 'Blood Magic, Love Magic'sir – uh, Severus?" asked Angelica.

"That will be within the scope of general discussion" said Severus. "Much of what we devised in the Voldemort years was in discussion group; admittedly terror of death was inclined to concentrate the mind wonderfully, but when a subject has been chewed over by several brains, inwardly digested and – dear me, I'm starting to put together a rather unsavoury analogy – er, regurgitated in several different forms it's amazing what may come out of it. Apologies for that."

"Too used to the unwholesome concatenations of first years dad" grinned Seagh. "Lumme and not just first years; which Tugwood was it you told off for growing an inflorescence of feculent and fetid fecundity?"

"Amy" said Severus "we reprised the Strengthening Solution; and after maturing for the weekend, hers was growing more mould than a first year's brain. It was her twin who produced a draught of living death more akin to the night of the undead. And let me tell you young people that if any of you take to teaching, the only way to remain sane is to remember that eight out of ten kids are dunderheads, a further eight out of ten don't listen and only a blessed few fall outside both those sets. If you expect eager intelligent faces every year you're doomed to failure; though the brats here aren't too bad" he added.

"You're a fraud, Severus" said Volodya dreamily "Your face softened when you mentioned the ones here; you mean merely that we should not have too high expectations. As I already know that most people have limited musical ability and plenty are tone deaf I know what you mean. But those who can be drilled into proper practise, chanting or potioneering, can make a creditable showing if you can persuade them to listen, yes?"

"Yes; and sometimes easier said than done" said Severus "Which is why I let the rumour go about that I poison fourth years; at least then they concentrate on their antidotes! But some kids…."

Seagh chuckled.

"Well perhaps I might chant up their crystal balls to give them a vision of poisoning themselves; they're taking Divination as a soft option and I swear they're only taking potions because it was one of the subjects they already knew" he said.

"I don't want to know" said Severus hurriedly.

Seagh grinned.

It was an idea to consider; if those lazy brats had something to think about beside the adornment of their persons and the pursuit of poor Victor Crabbe it might be good for the school at that! Amy was taking just three NEWTs and Ellen four, having added Care of Magical Beasts at the last minute in order to moon about over David Fraser.

They spent the evening chatting and getting to know each other. Seagh and Volodya were drawn together for both being of the blood group as well as sharing a love of music in common; and Godfrey, a friend of Jade's, was easily drawn to them to. Both respected Jade's judgement. And Volodya was full of sympathy that the Goodchilds had decreed that their younger son should not learn an instrument as the oldest two were the ones to invest in. To not be allowed music would have been terrible! Seagh told the Russian boy and Godfrey about Silvina Brewer, whose parents considered music as 'low' and who was a talented composer as well as potentially a very able musician; and both agreed to take an interest in her.

Angelica was in a similar position to Alison; she was taking further the subjects she was less able with, feeling that at Cackle's they had missed out so much an extra year would fill in gaps in their knowledge; and both planned to retake their weaker subjects. Alison knew there was more to be got out of Arithmancy, and more ways to apply it to her beloved potioneering; Angelica knew she could get more out of chanting than the fuzzy ideas instilled at first before Miss Bat had been given any real direction. As she had also taken an OWL in Arithmancy she would be studying that to NEWT too; and as one of the subjects she was good at was DADA Angelica was also seriously considering working for a while as a freelance curse breaker. It was a profitable field and would give her much real experience that she could then apply if she came back to teach in Hellibore's school for posh but not very bright witches and wizards –as the new form of the school was rather reprehensibly known to the youths of Prince Peak. She knew that she could be an adequate medical transfigurationist; and her ambitions on those lines were purely because of Jade having healed her own deformed spine; but she could never be among the best. Whereas with application to her chanting she COULD be among the best curse breakers – with insights from Severus Snape who was reckoned by rumour to be so good that even the famous Professor Dumbledore came to him for aid.

As Severus had reinvented chanting as a better means to break curses than more brute force methods he might well be considered the best in the world; Severus was a subtle man which was why such arts as potioneering and the dark arts and chanting appealed to him.

And why there were few enough who were subtle enough to learn well enough to be able to do half as well.

And Severus thought Angelica had a good chance of being one of those few.

He had dithered several times over inviting her into the bloodgroup; and now he had another year in which to decide. Or, in group discussions, to see if she sought him out to ask.

To declare an intent to aid and support meant that one was worthy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"I say, Victor, I didn't really expect to be a prefect, not coming new like this" said Darryl Zabini to Victor Crabbe, his blood brother and other ward of Severus Snape.

"You've been the sort of places that kind of forges you into being suitable I guess" said Victor. "Well you'll know some of your fellow prefects; Ulrich and Helga and Irmi as residents of the castle. Lily is the fourth upper sixth pre with Ulrich, Helga and me; she's rather on the shy side but Severus hoped it would help her blossom, 'cos the only alternative with the cackling hens in our year is Gaius Paddock and he's a bit high strung and erratic. In your year, Adrian and Sebastian go around with Irmi, so I expect she's talked about them; Elsie is the brightest witch of her age because she's been laid up so long she's had little to do but study. Her friend Emily – you've met her, she's the Grant boys' sister – is to be head of games. I was last year, but I asked Severus if she might not have the job as she's better at it than me."

"How excruciatingly noble!" laughed Darryl "You haven't been and caught Gryffindorishness somewhere have you?"

Victor grinned.

"If we're trying for Quidditch excellence as well as other forms of excellence I'd be a sad git not to go for the best for the first team" he said "Viktor is going to be organising some games with pro teams; and Emily will work well with our coaches to get all the teams licked into shape."

"I guess if you care enough about the game that does make sense then" said Darryl. "I guess I'm glad of the extra responsibilities of being a prefect; I miss Mimi already."

"You, like me, have come a long way" said Victor. "I never was more racist than the averagely stupid wizard; but we're both glad to have Sev as a spare father I guess!"

"The more, in my case, for never really having had one" said Darryl. "This explosion of school trunk almost has to be the notorious Rose Hubble I take it?"

"Hubble, stop having Hubble moments with that trunk and get on board, will you?" said Victor. Rose grinned at him and shot an enquiring look at Darryl.

"Darryl Zabini; transfer from Hogwarts, small family troubles and a desire for privacy" said Victor.

"Oh!" said Rose "Yes, there's a load of stuff all over the 'Daily Prophet' about a Blaise Zabini trying to throw the killing curse at his brother, is that you? You look remarkably well for being at death's door in St Mungo's or buried quietly in a family crypt."

"THAT was why I was hoping for some privacy" said Darryl dryly "Having one's own mother's crimes aired and one's brother's peccadilloes too and being pursued by reporters is NOT very nice. Nosy questions from kids I can handle; but Professor Snape has promised that I shan't have to put up with reporters."

"I say!" said Rose "Do you think he'll turn them into stone and we'll get a load of statues for the castle? That would be neat!"

"Brat!" said Victor. "The truth is that Madam Zabini is not very sane and has little concept of consequences; and should be pitied more than vilified. Her older son has had a muddled sort of upbringing. Darryl needs you lot to keep out of his hair; and as AHHa and team are at least partly assembled, perhaps you and your friends will join with them in sitting on crap will you?"

"Sure thing Victor" said Rose "I shouldn't much like it if the 'Prophet' ran a story on my family, and the worst thing that's happened to us was when mummy's self stirring cauldron exploded, still stirring, and brought half the chimney down!"

"Oh THAT's where you get it from, is it?" said Victor. "Well do NOT tell that story to Professor Snape; you're likely to have to endure a two hour lecture about the ills of self-stirring cauldrons. You know what he thinks about them!"

Rose giggled.

"I'll say! After the Appenine Agelast turned up with one last year; I say I am glad she got expelled. She was a nasty creature!"

Darryl had heard various young inmates of the castle on the subject of Ortensia Lollini and wondered if she might have learned, eventually, to overcome bad attitude and racism as he had; but in a small school he could appreciate that Severus had to make more of it. Especially as the girl was apparently an egregious liar.

Various children started turning up to be greeted by Victor and the other prefects as they arrived, Helga, Ulrich and Irmi being already there; and Helga and Ulrich on the train to keep an eye on those who had come to meet their returning friends. Darryl was introduced rapidly to the other prefects as they arrived and liked what he saw in Irmi's friends particularly.

New first years began arriving too, looking less certain of where they were going than the older ones. Victor had a list.

"Karin Meyer?" he asked a plainly Germanic child.

"Jahwohl, mein Herr" said the child.

"We speak English much of the time, though also some lessons are done in German and French; have you any English?" asked Victor in rapid German.

She shook her head.

"No sir" she said.

"I am not a sir; I am Victor Crabbe, a prefect" said Victor. "Birgitta Guttman, Wolfram Grindler and Siegfried Von Eiche are also on the train; they will help you start to learn English as they have already learned some."

"Are they too of blood not pure enough for Durmstrang?" asked Karin "My parents both had to learn magic on their own when they found they could do it."

"Birgitta is muggleborn like your parents and Wolfram and Siegfried are cured from when, as children, they both became werewolves" said Victor. "It is our own headmaster who has developed the cure. And they prefer therefore to come here than to go to Durmstrang."

"Then they are not, even the 'von', blood proud; it must have been terrible to have been a werewolf!" said Karin. "I will make sure nobody is unkind to them!"

"That's a good attitude; you will find none of the bigger ones will be. We have offered succour to many ex werewolves" said Victor. "And we jump on bullying of any kind – and racism."

"I am not racist" said Karin "What my parents know of the wizarding world they were mostly taught by goblins; so I have grown up knowing goblins. But as my parents have jobs in the muggle world and hide their magic they can afford to send me here."

"Well, a new school with many free places is to be set up in Germany for muggleborn and goblins and those Durmstrang despise" said Victor "My foster sister and her husband will be running it. So perhaps some of your friends will be able to go there."

The intake was still a little equivocal until Jade DID get her school set up; those not qualifying for Durmstrang could hardly be turned away if they had any ability and could pay; and likewise the goblins of Switzerland, since the country had been so supportive, nor those of Austria where the school was situated. There were no full blood goblins expected this term; only one part goblin, the grandson of a goblin armourer who had lived out of wedlock with a foreign artist and whose daughter had married a wizard. In fact Werner Wasner turned up next and Victor called on Karin to go through with the boy, whose eyes were eager and bright.

"Ah, our resident artist of the year" said Victor "Your lessons are a bit informal I'm afraid as there are too few artists in the Wizarding World who are trained and capable of teaching; the Headmaster's cousin comes in on Saturdays and teaches all ages together. He's an insurance diviner by trade because HIS art also takes the form of prediction; and it's one thing he'll test you on. We've some talented people though, and we've been promised a real full time teacher next year after she leaves school and has hopefully grown out of using her art to make bullies' noses grow."

Werner grinned.

"Thanks for the information!" he said. "Will I get racist comments er, Sir?"

"Not sir; only prefect" said Victor "If you do, and it gets heard, it'll get leaped on; if it's a private snidery, I strongly suggest you ask your fellows to join in a bit of peer punishment rather than necessarily reporting it to a prefect. Do you know English?"

"No sir – er, no; I know only French besides German since my grandmother is French."

"Well it's all a good start as we try to be trilingual" said Victor "You can help your fellows with French as some of them help you with English."

Next to arrive was Fulke Blackwood; he was a cousin of Elsie and greeted her cheerfully. He had passed the strict entrance exam Severus was now insisting on for any but siblings of his original Cackle's girls; it was unfair to exclude siblings after all. Fulke would have gone to Hellibore's as his father had; and hoped to have the chance to do better than previous generations at an academic school.

"I'm told if I can't perform in potions I get turned into a flobberworm" he said.

"Not quite; but Professor Snape is inclined to treat vocabulary as a weapon" grinned Victor "Luckily for you, if you AREN'T any good, we have a new professor this year teaching Junior Potions to free the Headmaster to give more time to senior classes."

"I don't think I'm BAD" said Fulke "But cousin Pamela's been telling scary stories!"

Victor laughed. Pamela had left a couple of years back, being two years ahead of him.

"Well this school has always had a good reputation for potions excellence" he said "I'm sure Professor Burke will be more than adequate to the standard if not perhaps quite as inclined to loose a well honed homily on miscreants and the careless as Professor Snape." It was odd to reflect, thought Victor, that Dympna Burke was his own age; had been indeed in his own class and house in Hogwarts School. He had lost a year through being expelled for rather disgraceful behaviour towards that poor girl… he could not even recall her name….. when searching for some means to assuage his frustration over his little brother's behaviour; and all the time poor Walter had been under a curse! And after two years in St Mungo's, Walter was starting Hogwarts again; and by all accounts had been befriended by some decent kids at Lucius Malfoy's weevil fest, that made Victor worry less about him. Dympna, or Dimsie as she preferred to be known now, had had her own revelation after having been cursed herself by a necklace sent by someone who had a grudge against her father; and was married to the late developing not-quite-muggle Parselmouth Lee Nuffield, teacher of muggle studies.

The next child to arrive was another English child; Germaine Oglethorpe was the daughter of Dunbar Oglethorpe, head of QUABBLE, the English regulatory body of Quidditch; and she was coming to take advantage of the coaching of Viktor Krumm. She beamed happily at the prefects and went through the wall, careful of her brand new Millenium Firebolt, still favoured by many quidditch players over the faster Firebolt 200, named for its speed. She was speedily followed by another English girl who gave her name as Evadne Horrocks. This was another traditional Hellibore-Cackle family, though she had no family in the school; but she had passed the entrance exam or Severus would not have taken her. She gave a patronising little smile and nodded to the prefects and Victor pulled a private face and dubbed her a 'Ravenclaw's Ravenclaw'.

Next was a little French girl called Solange Lebaton.

"'Ello, I am zo pleased to be 'ere" she said in careful English "I learn much music 'ere, n'est-ce-pas?"

"Indeed yes; we have a specialist music teacher now" said Victor "Your English is very good; you will be pleased that we learn French as well as English and German, and you will be able to help those whose French is poor."

"Yes, of that I will be most glad to do" said Solange.

"I must however stop you because you have the wrong cauldron" said Victor suddenly noticing the self-stirring cauldron. He switched to French "It is expressly forbidden on the kit list madame" he spoke to the child's mother.

"IS it? I am very sorry, monsieur; the man in the shop said it was just what every young witch should have. And so I went with his recommendation. I know nothing about wizarding equipment" she added apologetically.

"Maman is a muggle" said Solange "She is a nurse and Papa was most impressed when they first met – is it not romantic? – at how well she was treating a young wizard who had fallen from a broom, making him comfortable as she might without spells. He is a Medical Transfigurationist; and he says there is that to be learned from muggle methods. But it means Maman has been diddled by that little creep, for she showed him the list!"

"Papa will go and have words with him and put his feet on backwards until he apologises" said the child's mother "What am I to do?"

"Take the thing home with you and she can use a school cauldron; the headmaster will have a bill sent for one to be made for her" said Victor "You should get a refund – and maybe some goodwill goodies – for such a contumelious shop assistant. A man like a medical transfigurationist is a big enough man to make life uncomfortable for him if there is any trouble made over it. He sounds like a man with an open mind."

"Yes; he is eager to learn from Solange about this chanting that seems so successful" said Madame Lebaton "That even if Solange does not wish to follow in his footsteps she may at least teach him to improve his own work. It is why he has chosen this school over Beauxbatons for her, and then for her younger siblings."

"I should think that Professor Snape – who is my guardian – would be happy for him to come for a crash course from time to time when his work permits it" said Victor "I take it that was why he did not oversee the buying of your daughter's kit?"

"Yes; there had been a collapse of a stadium at a quidditch match, many injuries" said Solange "Poor people! He is still working on some of them. I hope Papa saved all their lives; one wonders if it was sabotaged. There is a violent goblin movement in France that gives nice goblins a bad name."

Victor sighed.

"It only takes one charismatic creep to spoil it for everyone else! And France on the verge of coming into line with Britain too; I hope it does not cause a backwash of anti-goblin feeling!"

"Yes; it is very worrying. Papa says that apart from being rather excitable, there is little difference between goblins and humans if you do not go on looks and that they have long delicate fingers ideal for medical work if they were only trained. Papa is only interested in healing; not politics or race or anything" said Solange proudly.

"He sounds a father to be proud of" said Victor. "Hop through now, youngster, and we'll all think of your father and hope our good will aids him in his work!"

Next was an English boy, Conrad Grailsquest, another traditional Hellibore family. Conrad had NOT passed the exam; but Severus was taking him anyway on special circumstance and had asked Victor to look out for him. Even medical transfiguration could not hide the misshapen nose and reddened patches of burn scars to the child's face from wounds that had something of the nature of the cursed nature of them.

Conrad had manifested magic in the normal way and had, like Professor Dumbledore's little sister, been picked on by muggles for it. Severus had, with Dumbledore's permission, shared the story with his bloodkin in Prince Peak for the sake of this child, who had managed, in his terror to set fire to a bush and been horribly burned when the muggle boys pushed him into it. The hatred from them had added a level of cursed nature to his horrific burns. His father had been more concerned with saving his son that chastising the muggles; who were, moreover, quickly grabbed by muggle police as a neighbour had reported – erroneously – that they were forcing a smaller child to set fire to himself. As one of the muggle boys had a lighter with him, protestations of Conrad's magic had fallen on disbelieving ears that were angry that these children should try to make up such a ridiculous excuse. They were in a secure social services unit at the moment. Conrad, however, like Ariana, was bottling up his magic as well as having suffered much pain and the need for medical transfigurations every few months as a means of not damaging him further by doing too much at once.

Victor smiled at the lad.

"Hello Conrad! I'm Victor; and I know your story, because I'm to be your special prefect. My little brother is all behind because of being cursed you see; and I also know Neville Longbottom very well, who's magic got blocked because of seeing, when he was a baby, his parents tortured with the cruciatus curse. Our Headmaster was his special teacher at school and helped him to find his magic. We're here to help you; and if you don't find much magic, then you can learn subjects that don't need it. Only you need to know that too much bottling up can lead to the sort of crazy eruptions of uncontrolled magic some little kids do; so if you feel all pent up, you let someone know and we'll keep you safe from hurting yourself or anyone else."

"It scares me Victor" said Conrad "Magic scares me because I got so bad hurt."

"Well, one thing some of us will do is to make a chant to help your scars to heal" said Victor. "Chants can heal any scars; Professor Snape has not healed his on purpose so he can use them as an awful warning about people who muck about; it was someone stealing ingredients that caused the fire that burned HIM and she got away and he had to save the school. He gets snippy about people being careless with potion ingredients! But we can heal you – and as you learn chanting, you'll find it is a way to let your magic out a bit at a time so it's less suddenly. And I think you'll find that much more soothing than trying to use spells. Siegfried Von Eiche is going to sit with you in class; because he's got a strange story too. I expect he'll tell you, but he has asked that people all get warned. He's good at chanting already so he can help you."

The boy was listening and tears stood in his eyes.

"Oh! How kind you are!" he said "I was really afraid of getting bullied because of the scar and because of being like a squib; you are very good!"

"I've been places it was hard to get out myself" said Victor "As well as feeling for my kid brother; who is NOT coming here because my parents, unlike yours, are idiots. Having friends your own age in a small school will help you no end kid: and I'm going to take you in to find Siegfried."

Siegfried was glad to make friends with a child scarred and handicapped through no fault of his own – as he had been in a different way; and readily told Conrad his own story.

Victor emerged to break up a tussle between the Villeneuve twins and to greet the final new child, Georgi Metlaev*, who was chatting to Darryl in bad German, the only language they had in common. Victor had picked up enough Russian to greet the child. Georgi was a near pure blood who would have been destined for Durmstrang had not his father and Volodya's been friends. Georgi also had a broom with him, a Boistriye Drakon, the nearest Russian equivalent to the Firebolt; he was coming on a quidditch talent and Victor quickly introduced him to Emily as head of games. The child was full of questions about how many teams the school had, and whether it was really true that he would be coached by Viktor Krumm.

"We have a very good teacher of Quidditch, Professor Ron" said Emily "Who gave up coaching an English team to come to us; and he's a friend of Professor Krumm too, and we also have an international referee on the staff who helps out too. And HE's a triwizard champion from his time too, and Professor Ron is best friend of Harry Potter the greatest seeker ever!"

Georgi's cup ran over!

The first years this year seemed a decent bunch, reflected Victor; with a possible problem in Evadne Horrocks. Still, it might be armour that made her seem stuck up. They would see; and the other first years would soon let her know if she was behaving unacceptably.

The prefects met on the train to vote for a head boy or girl. Victor puzzled over who to vote for. His fellows in the upper sixth were all good types, but not really leadership material. Darryl could do the job; but it was inappropriate for a new transfer to be head boy as he knew none of the customs or ways of the school. And nor was he known by the pupils any more than he knew which ones to watch out for, whether to step on trouble or to protect. Either Sebastian Cantripp or Irmi Luytens would do a good job of it perhaps; and Irmi was blood group. Victor nodded, and inscribed Irmi's name on his piece of paper to drop in the ballot box.

And then the train screeched to a halt.

Victor and the other prefects headed straight away for the front of the train.

The goblin driver was shouting at a house elf with her hands on the line.

"Silly bint, I'm not about to drive over your hands! Have you any idea the amount of damage that can do you? It'll cut them right off! And that's more than self punishment, girl, that's going to make you useless to your owner and then you'll be freed as a punishment and will starve to death!"

"Tetti deserves it for wishing her master dead!" said the elf, her big eyes full of tears of terror and sadness.

"Tetti" said Victor "You wish to punish yourself for thinking disloyal thoughts?"

Tetti nodded mournfully.

"Then go immediately to England, to Malfoy Manor and there you may ask Lucius Malfoy if he can make any suggestions" said Victor. Going to England meant she would pass the line cancelling the self punishment curse; and Lucius would think of a way to free the poor little thing if she was so badly treated she had actually wished her master dead!

"Thank you young master!" said Tetti, all unsuspecting and clicked her fingers and vanished.

Victor was relieved. If she had argued he might have had to use the Imperious Curse; and it WAS unforgivable.

"Silly creatures, elves" grumbled the driver "Glad Herr Snape's training his elves to be rational. Even educated, some on them. What do they do it for?"

"Because, Skadd" said Victor, hoping he had the right name for this driver "They were placed centuries ago, maybe millenia, under a curse akin to the Imperious Curse, tied to their very heritance and to their inmost thoughts that they must punish themselves for disloyalty; up to and including the briefest of thoughts. This curse has been broken in England; and I ask you to pass it around that if you can find any reason to persuade an elf to go to England this will break that evil curse. It has made elves into the wretched, snivelling, miserable creatures that they are; generation upon generation of them. And a tribute to their resilience that they are not all insane. Well, only a little bit. Elves who are freed can learn to be as normal folk are; and do not forget that there are some wizards who would like to see a similar servility curse laid on goblins."

Skadd spat into the firebox.

"I've heard of those sorts of wizards" he said "Herr Snape manages to kill a lot of them."

Victor grinned.

"That sort of fight for equality and freedom IS rather a hobby of his" he said "And the elves who go to England get uncursed because he and sundry others – including some of his other professors, and Jade Snape Luytens – chanted for eight hours without rest to break the curse, and Lucius Malfoy sacrificed heart's blood. Same as how Jade went into Durmstrang to get control of the German ministry to increase rights for goblins; suffered the cruciatus curse from Odessa agents to be able to succeed."

"The Snapes are great people" said Skadd. "I took a drop in pay to work for the professor; and worth it. I get more consideration, more job satisfaction. I done right to stop and not drive over her didn't I?"

"You did absolutely right" said Victor. "Right, we'd better get back on our way; thanks Skadd."

"Thank YOU Herr Crabbe" said Skadd. It was a little difficult to tell humans apart, but he was learning and Herr Crabbe was one of Herr Snape's wards and unfailingly courteous.

The school roiled in relays up to the school via cable car and children were whisked into dormitories to rid themselves of their kit. Victor had asked Darryl to share a study with him as sixth formers were permitted to have full choice of their partner in two and three man rooms; and Darryl had accepted gratefully.

Then they were at the feast; and before falling upon food, Severus rose to address the school.

"First of all, to announce this year's Head Boy" he said "I have an almost universal choice of the obvious suspect; Victor Crabbe"

Victor goggled.

"Me, sir?" he managed.

"Well I don't believe we have another Victor Crabbe in the sixth" said Severus with gentle sarcasm "Your deputy is your choice out of Irmi Luytens and Sebastian Cantripp who polled a vote each."

Victor considered.

"I think," he said, "where it is possible there should be a deputy of the opposite gender to the head; so both boys and girls may approach one or the other. I voted for Irmi; it was her or Sebastian and I picked her for knowing her slightly better as my first choice, Darryl, is NOT known to the school."

"Clear and cogent reasoning, Mr Crabbe; Irmi Luytens then is deputy head" said Severus. "For the benefit of the rest of you, Darryl Zabini has transferred from Hogwarts and those of you who read that rag the 'Daily Prophet' will know why he would like to study for NEWTs without stupid reporters pestering him. I warn you now, if any of you are approached by reporters when out of school, I shall consider giving them any story to be a possible expulsion offence. And I say now to the marauders among you PLEASE not too big a wind up of any of them; I don't really want to field a law suit suing them for claiming that I am harbouring a er, wereknarl or similar; and I use that as an example of a previous generation's wind up of the ministry of magic. Whilst I abhor the filthy habit of such low newspapers of victimising still more any unfortunate people who have had more than their share of knocks I do NOT want to have the embarrassment of sorting out the ramifications of too carefully convincing a tissue of mischievous mendacity. And if anyone tries to pester Darryl, I might point out that his fiancée is likely to take offence; and for those of you who know my daughter Mimi, who is a Hogwarts Marauder, I should think that will make you think twice."

"Anyone who rags Darryl for being unfortunate in his relatives gets to answer to us Prince Peak Marauders first" said Randolph Wright. "Apologies for interrupting sir" he bowed to Severus.

"Apology accepted" said Severus. "I have too another tale that I have been asked to share by one of the new first year; Siegfried Von Eiche has asked me to explain that if he should seem in any way to act strangely or speak strangely, he has a very good reason. Siegfried was placed under the draught of living death in the year 1600; because he had been bitten by a werewolf and his father hoped that a cure would be developed. It has of course; though I doubt that Baron von Eiche could have anticipated that his son would sleep on after all his family died out in a ruined castle until such time as he should be roused and cured. Siegfried is working very hard to come to terms with modern life; and I am certain I can trust you all to help him. Mr Grailsquest?"

"Sir, please sir, will you share what happened to me? I – I believe it will help me too" said Conrad.

Severus gave him a warm smile.

"That is very brave of you, Conrad" he said; and proceeded to tell the school the story. There were gasps of indignation.

"What would have happened sir, if the muggle police had not thought the boys used muggle devices to burn him?" asked Solange.

Severus sighed.

"We could only hope that in such case any sensible witch or wizard would NOT use magic on such muggles; for that can only lead to a custodial sentence under our laws" he said "We live beside muggles; we MUST acquaint ourselves with their customs and use their law where we may to keep them from hurting us. Anyone assaulting children physically would be arrested by muggles; but it would be easy then to have them confunded as it was in defence of a child. Our laws require us to use restraint, harder said than done when a child of our own is hurt. And yes, I DO know about that; two of my own daughters were badly bullied in their first year at Hogwarts and could have been maimed for life – through spite and stupidity where one was concerned, and through ignorance and a failure to understand the consequences of actions where the other was involved. I tell you this because when you grow up and become parents it is not inconceivable that you will find yourselves in a situation where muggles attack your children – in fear and ignorance for the most part. Wanting to know how the trick is pulled; for they do not believe really in magic. And I urge you to try to confine yourselves to verbal abuse – and report the matter to MUGGLE authorities. Justice does NOT automatically grow out of the end of a wand. And it may even be that those muggles who bully out of fear might repent of it and genuinely want to learn more; it HAS been known to happen. Well, that went into more serious channels than I intended; I'm sure you'll be supportive of Conrad as of Siegfried and Darryl; and if Conrad exhibits strange and uncontrolled magical effects, it would be best to leave him alone and get a grown up. It's not his fault but odd things may happen. And I am glad of his permission to warn you about it" he added.

Severus did not believe for one moment that Conrad was likely to kill anyone the way the unfortunate Ariana Dumbledore had accidentally killed her own mother; the oppressive atmosphere in which Ariana had been brought up was as likely to have exacerbated the problem as anything; a normal life would have done far more good for the girl than to have her treated like a half wit squib.

Severus had nothing but scorn for Perceval Dumbledore who had got himself sent to Azkaban for severely chastising the muggle youths, and moreover forbidding his family from saying anything in his mitigation lest Ariana be taken to St Mungo's; where she might have been cured of her self-induced compulsion and helped to resume a normal life. It was selfish in the extreme and stupid; and of all things Severus despised wilful stupidity. That young Albus had obeyed his father was in no wise unexpected; any boy with a hitherto reasonable father is going to obey unquestioningly, and Albus now had an example of that in the boy Seth, his body recreated and reborn as Albus' adopted son after obeying HIS parents' command to commit suicide. Perceval and Kendra Dumbledore were those parents who meant well by their offspring and managed to fail to deliver by being unable to think what was truly best for them. Bringing up Albus and Aberforth in a web of lies and deceit and imprisoning Ariana in body even as she was imprisoned in spirit was morbidly wrong. At least the Grailsquests had hired healers to try to help Conrad and had approached him, Severus, to see what might be done. And Severus had every intention of encouraging the boy to observe the incident through the Pensieve too, to help him find some objectivity; and to deep legilimens him to find and release the compulsion not to use magic his own childish subconscious had implanted. There was every likelihood of a happy outcome. And, reflected Severus, had Albus only been as great a legilimens at seventeen as he was in later life, he could probably have cured his own sister.

And if a cure had not been effected by Yule, Severus had every intention of asking if he might keep the boy over the holidays to let Lilith loose on. The little girl had often got some amazingly deep yet simple outlooks on problems that she could fix more readily than an adult.

And the Grailsquest parents were the exception to his assertion that most kids would be fine if they had no parents and he had told them so.

* _Metlaev; son of a broom_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 **

"Me I'm sceptical that the muggles who hurt you could be brought to repent and want to know more, but if Professor Snape has known it to happen I suppose he has to mention it" said Fulke Blackwood to Conrad as they settled into Indigo Dormitory. "I don't know a whole lot about muggles. We get good lessons here, cousin Pamela says; my brothers left Hellibores without a lesson about muggles in their whole time there."

"Professor Nuffield was born a muggle and didn't develop magic until he was seventeen" volunteered Wolfram "But he's a Parselmouth and a descendant of the famous English Salazar Slytherin because magic can lurk in the heritance of muggles hidden for generations. Those that have some can more readily see stuff and it calls to something deep within them and that can make them jealous, Madam Malfoy says. Are we all going to be friends or does anyone have any problem with those of us who used to be werewolves or with Werner having goblin blood? 'cos if so we'd like to know who to ostracise now please."

Georgi grinned.

"I have no problems" he said "It is not what I am used to, but I'm too interested in learning in a good school to get upset by things I have not come across before. I will learn to adapt; Professor Snape is a world famous man. If he thinks someone suitable to come to his school it would be rather impertinent to question his choice I think."

"Pompous but fair" grinned Werner. "I'm no great shakes at a lot of wandwork; because Professor Snape said he'd have been dubious of taking me if I hadn't had a talent with artwork; and I have helped my granddad with metalwork, and we're to have that on the curriculum he said in a couple of years. But it's not because I'm part goblin or part muggle, he said, just because some people are better than others at different things."

"Well as it stands I'm no great shakes at ANYTHING even a talent" said Conrad "And I feel really lucky that I come under the 'and special needs' part of the school; 'cos it's for those with special talents and special needs. The sickly and such that means; and I really hope I can be sorted out."

"We shall all help in any way we might" said Siegfried. "And I have no doubt that Herr Professor Snape will aid you. He is a great man; and stands for me as the only father I now possess" he added sadly.

"Looks like we have a surprisingly decent group of boys then if we can hang together and support each other" said Fulke "And me the only nasty one; I warn you I have a sharp tongue especially first thing in the morning. I have to say I was expecting to have a bunch of either total ticks or the sanctimoniously pi"

"Good grief, Fulke, don't tell me you're as much a cynic as the Head?" said Wolfram. "I say this is one of the best years yet; and I've seen a few, since my brothers and I were rescued from Odessa and cured of being werewolves. My oldest brother is one of the prefects; but I'm glad he wasn't elected head boy. I love Ulrich; but he spent too long of his life being cowed. Me, I've adapted to freedom. And I don't see a single pi look here; so I vote the first thing we do when we have leisure is to go looking for secret passages."

"How do you know there are any?" asked Georgi.

"ALL old castles have secret passages" declared Wolfram.

It was voted a good idea.

The five little girls in lilac dormitory were also assessing each other.

"It is sensible of Professor Snape to outline the problems those boys have so we may be aware" said Evadne "Have we any like problems amongst us, that any were too shy to air in public?"

The other four looked at each other and shrugged.

"If anyone wishes to object to my muggle mother I would like please to know now" said Solange.

"Both my parents were muggles; though I've been reared by my muggle grandparents" said Birgitta "And it didn't stop them doing all they could to help Professor Snape fight Odessa."

"My grandparents were all muggles and my parents work in the muggle world because there is no work for the muggleborn save menial jobs in Germany" said Karin.

"I heard things were appallingly unfair on the continent; I guess I didn't know how bad that was!" said Germaine "Gosh, just think, that was what Voldemort wanted for us all! I'm glad he's dead. Well if we're all happy without bitching about blood status that's going to be fine."

"You should not use words like 'bitching'!" said Evadne.

Germaine stared.

"Come again?" she said "Don't spoil the harmony we seem to have got by being a mealy mouthed prig; it isn't on the forbidden list, I checked what was, account of daddy picking up a few ripe expressions from Quidditch players."

"Like what?" asked Solange.

"Don't you say!" said Evadne "A FINE thing it'll be if French and German kids go home having learned to swear from English girls!"

"Y'know what, Horrocks, I do think that Solange isn't actually stupid and isn't going to go home and say 'listen to all this lovely bad language I learned. Do you know any French bad words Solange? Fair exchange is no robbery."

Solange giggled.

"Fils d'un conjureur" she said "Son of a - 'Ow you say, a pretend wizard?"

"Neat!" said Germaine "My dad's favourite one is 'Merlin's Bollocks'; that's the male bits, and I'm not allowed to say it but fair's fair."

Solange giggled.

"Well one of my dad's favourites it ees to – to imply zat a man has been emasculate, wizzout sings"

"Oh a wandless wonder" said Germaine "There's ruder ways of putting that. I say have we offended Evadne enough now do you think?"

"I shall tell if you don't stop" said Evadne.

"You'll get ticked off for sneaking if you do" said Birgitta "Using such expressions in public would be jumped on and good; but in the privacy of the dorm and in the spirit of – of prurient enlightenment it's not going to be considered a sin you know; I've lived here in the orphanage part for a good few years so I do have a bit of an advantage of knowing what is going to get taken up on and what isn't. Lighten up do; you don't have to use rude words if you don't want to. And my granddad's favourite one, which is innocuous enough though is sounds lovely and rude to English speakers I'm told, is Kartoppfelkopf; which means potato head."

Germaine giggled

"That DOES sound rude!" she said. "And I guess we shouldn't have explored international ruderies, Evadne, if you hadn't made such a fuss about a word like bitching; which isn't at all the same as calling someone a bitch, because that IS horridly rude. Being faintly er…"

"The word you want is derogatory" supplied Birgitta. "Being derogatory about oneself or one's selves is kind of all right like a form of self deprecation which talking about us NOT bitching could be considered."

"Crumbs, Birgitta, not only is your English really colloquial you even have a massive number of words you know that I only know when you use them!" said Germaine, impressed.

"I have been here and working on being bilingual for about four years" said Birgitta "And by traditional learning lessons as well as with magical implant. We all use traditional lessons at first; because Professor Snape reckons that being taught the grammar gives us a better grounding. And THEN we can have a magical transfer of vocabulary and pronunciation. I mostly learned just by talking to people" she added. "Jade Snape managed to pick up Russian and Finnish and Rumanian as well; she's awfully clever though. It was she who performed the actions that finally brought Odessa down."

"There wasn't much news about Odessa in England; was it really as bad as Voldemort?" asked Evadne.

"It was, by the testimony of those who have seen both, far worse" said Birgitta "Because Germanic peoples will do what they are told by the one who shouts loudest; and too there was a culture of fear that had gone on so long people were used to it. I didn't suffer any because I was raised a muggle until we came here. And we came here by accident because the conveyance we were in was sent out in such bad weather conditions it crashed. And Professor Snape recognised me as talented and offered Granddad a job as caretaker to be sure I was kept safe; and he took it. But we have seen many, those who have been born werewolves in a prison compound where they were not told that babies would be born werewolves; muggles kidnapped to be made into werewolves; a man and all but his eldest daughter made into werewolves because his brother coveted his lands and in Germany werewolves are permitted to own nothing. Goblins have been dying of a disease that has been curable in England for two hundred years because they were denied the cure, living in conditions no decent person would keep animals in because they are restricted to certain areas and the owners of the buildings don't care; the women don't get to choose when to have babies, they have no control potions permitted to them. Anyone with less than eleven generations pure bred blood is suspect and not permitted certain jobs. Can YOU prove your wizarding blood back for eleven generations? That's about three hundred years, by the way" she added.

"That's AWFUL!" cried Evadne "Something must be DONE about it!"

"It is" said Birgitta "And we're at the school where the people who do things about it live or come from. Like Jade Snape. And our new deputy head girl, Irmi, is Jade's stepdaughter and she and her dad were werewolves and they're going to run a school for goblins and halfbreeds and muggleborn and those with muggles in their blood because educated people can better state their aims and fight for rights. And Jade made the new German government concede that goblins proven to be students or educated should be allowed wands. It's not as far as England goes but it is a start."

"But yes, it is what France permits; and then these silly fool activists try to force the government to let all goblins carry wands with acts of terror and they only damage their cause!" said Solange "They are obviously by such actions too stupid and too irresponsible to be permitted wands!"

"Huh, if that was a criterion half the Ministry of Magic ought to be denied wands" opined Germaine.

"And most German wizards" said Birgitta. "But I take your point. Solange, you should tell someone in authority; perhaps they can slip a few sensible goblins from England in to catch these fools."

"I spoke to Victor about it" said Solange.

"Oh, he'll have already discussed it with Professor Snape by now then" said Birgitta "Victor is a good man; and he is Professor Snape's ward. I expect something is in train."

oOoOo

What was in train was Kinat, visiting the Auror's offices in Paris, explaining who he was, and asking if the French aurors would like him and a few English goblins to find and dispose quietly of the hotheads who were causing so much unnecessary trouble and bringing goblin kind into disrepute.

The chief auror was an open minded man; but utterly opposed to the idea of quiet disposal. He preferred the rule of law. He was however ready to deputise Kinat and a few others as assistants and set them loose to arrest and bring in, only using fatal force if it became unavoidable. The zig-zag scar WAS an influence on him.

Kinat grinned.

"M'sieur, save against Voldemort himself, we were trained that anyone alive can be made dead but the other way around requires magic far too complex to bother with. Even if we had access to the Peverell resurrection stone."

Monsieur Chantier laughed a dry laugh.

"Then I leave it to your discretion M'sieur Konal" he said.

"Better get in some mandrake juice" said Kinat.

"I beg your pardon?"

"We have always found that to turn our enemies to stone is a most convenient way to do things; they can be stored indefinitely without cost to the tax paying wizard for their keep since statues need neither food nor a bed to sleep in; and can be revived readily as required. Simple!"

"If you are powerful enough to cast a spell that turns men into stone then I have no further reservations about the amount goblins might have learned in English schools; why, it is not a spell I know! Will you tell me it?"

Kinat shrugged.

"Why not? All I know of you is that you are a man of honour. It is developed from the spell _duro_; save that we use _durocorpus_. If you find it hard, adding the name of the person you wish to petrify may help with the introduction of Finnish naming magic. Names are power" he added. Monsieur Chantier stared.

"I think England is far ahead of us in the theory of magic" he said "And it is not surprising that Beauxbatons lags in the Triwizard when such esoteric things are spoken of in the casual way that is obviously just a part of your life and knowledge."

"I WAS one of the first to study comparative magic" said Kinat "And regret not having the sheer time to take it to NEWT; I only took six NEWTs, what you call the ELF, Examination Lycée Formidable."

"ONLY? You English are all formidable!" cried Monsieur Chantier "Assuredly I shall tell my son and daughters to send their assorted offspring to the English schools!"

"Prince Peak offers trilingual education" said Kinat "And is moreover on the continent; but there is too an entrance exam. Only the top students may enter. But as grandchildren of an auror I doubt they'll have any trouble" he added shrugging.

Kinat had borrowed some of Kordach's top men; some of whom were watch wizards under English law, and as such Monsieur Chantier readily issued licences to carry wands since, although not technically educated, they held positions of responsibility under the English Aurors' Office. And as goblins they might submerge themselves readily in the Parisian goblin population and see who the main troublemakers were. Kinat was going to be cautious; but he did not anticipate much trouble. From the outrages committed to date – he had read all the Auror reports – these people were amateur plotters. And Kinat had been plotting professionally against worse enemies than the gargantuan inefficiencies of the French legal system since he was eleven years old.

oOoOo

The Prince Peak students had been back just three days when Severus called Solange to his office.

"My dear, I have to pass to you the thanks of the French Auror's office; the information you gave enabled some English goblins working out of our aurors' office to penetrate the saboteurs. Indeed there were two groups; a hot-headed bunch of fools, who were given up fairly readily by other goblins to a GOBLIN investigator; and a group of sincerely hot-headed fools who did not know they were being manipulated – and partly by spells – by a human supremacist who wanted to see goblins discredited. His instructions were sent in written form only, and Mr Konal has now taught the French Aurors how to fold such things into paper birds and enchant them to find the writer; which enabled this scheming wizard to be arrested."

Solange's face brightened.

"Oh I am most glad sir!" she said "Papa will be pleased too; oh please, was the collapsing stadium the work of goblins?"

"Yes my child, it was; and THAT was undertaken by the group manipulated by the wizard. And you will be pleased to know that though some people are still critical, the medical teams managed to avert any fatal casualties, partly because the half troll bodyguard of a goblin bookie held up a huge part of the stadium while people escaped. He is to get a medaille d'honneur for it; and deservedly so" said Severus "And the French Ministry are paying all his medical bills. There are many of the French who are remarkably civilised people in the wizarding world" he added "Very open minded and ready to accept people."

Solange nodded.

"Eet is partly because we despise all that Germany stands for" she said "Eet ees a pity however that Beauxbatons is not so good a school."

"I fancy it is because your compatriots are, as a whole, such relaxed people" said Severus "And it is good that they should be relaxed about minor things like race, but not so good to be relaxed about education."

"Well as there are those ready to riot also because of race, perhaps then the education should not be so relaxed" said Solange "Papa says that there are two Frances; Paris and the Peasantry. People of Paris are ready to be open minded but in country communities there is much suspicion. And though Beauxbatons is in the south, most of its pupils are from Paris and the more civilised parts."

"Ah well; those who make the laws at least give us a good start" said Severus.

oOoOo

Dimsie Burke Nuffield faced her first potions class with the new ones with not a little trepidation. She was delighted to be teaching beside her Lee, and pleased to be under Severus Snape, so stern to malefactors, but oh so kind to those in trouble! She had learned to trust, respect and even love him over the troubles that had beset her from the time of the cursed necklace, and to miss him when he had moved to Prince Peak. And now she must try her best to live up to his standards and pass fourth years to him fully prepared. And that had to begin from the word go.

"Be seated" she said "I am Madam Burke; and in the fecund fumes of fortune that arise from each subtly simmering cauldron I hope to teach you the most subtle of the magical arts that may surpass in effect any effect to be attained by wand; for the effects of potions may be more profound than any mere spell, and the many layered subtleties of potioneering are approached only by the best chanters. When you are older you will be taught by Professor Snape himself, the greatest potioneer of all time; and I hope that you will work hard enough to deserve that privilege. Yes, what is your name?"

A child had put her hand up. Dimsie was faintly irritated as she was in full flow with what she fondly hoped was a sentence full of Snapisms.

"Please, Madam Burke, my name is Evadne Horrocks; and if he is the greatest potioneer of all time, why is he teaching not potioneering?"

"Miss Horrocks, whatever makes you think he is NOT potioneering? Professor Snape is a great man; it is HE who developed the cure for lycanthropy; and he is always having articles he has written published in 'Transactions of the Learned Society for Potioneers'. He teaches because he feels that passing on his skills to those who can appreciate them is far more important than merely becoming wealthy by making and selling the most difficult and expensive potions. As he has independent means, he is able to follow his feelings in that. Many of your professors here are at the top of their fields; because Professor Snape has put together a team of experts capable of guiding those children drawn from the cleverest and best, so that YOUR needs may be fully met. As they also engage in research during the long holidays, these pre-eminent professors are also able to work with each other in original work, and lead those who come for post NEWT education. I explain to you in full in case you have acquired some strange preconceived notion that teaching is a second-best profession for those unable to perform in their chosen field. For some teachers that may be so; but those of us teaching YOU have chosen it as a vocation. And I sit at the feet of such as Professor Snape for I too have much to learn from him and will relish the chance to study post NEWT applications during my free evenings. If you despise your teachers, and do not give to them as much as they give to you, I fear you will make but a despicable student."

Dimsie was proud of that summing up.

Evadne flushed.

"I meant no disrespect" she said "I did not understand that we warranted those in the top of their field. I always thought that those who can, do; and those who can't, teach."

"It may apply to some teachers" said Dimsie "Those who KNOW their subject but who have difficulty in practical terms, but know they can impart it to those of greater talent. And they are to be respected too for giving back their knowledge and not grudging those who surpass them. But for most wizarding teachers we are drawn by an enthusiasm for our subject that we long to share with you."

"Thank you Madam Burke" said Evadne.

Pedantic little prig! Thought Dimsie, though she smiled at the child kindly enough

It soon became apparent, when getting the class to brew a simple pepperup potion that Siegfried, Wolfram, Fulke and Birgitta were going to make a fairly good showing; and that Karin Meyer had the light potioneer's touch that would have Severus beaming with delight. As the child was also very organised she had every chance of doing extremely well. Conrad Grailsquest was certainly very poor; but, as she pointed out to him, he DID get some colour change and therefore was proven to have enough magic on the outside to make a difference.

Conrad smiled shyly.

Professor Snape had summoned him into his office as they settled in and he and several other professors had stood around Conrad, chanting in a low, intense sort of way; a quite scary situation in many ways! And his face seemed to mould and pull as they chanted; and the bits that were often sore felt eased. And then Madam Malfoy-Snape had handed him a mirror; and Conrad had gasped.

All the terrible scars had gone, and he looked just like anyone else; quite good looking even! And he had cried, and Madam Malfoy Snape had cuddled him while Professor Snape shoo'd out the other professors as though they were so many naughty children, though he had thanked them for their time and efforts too. And Conrad was determined to do all he could to overcome his blockage and work hard as the only way he knew to say 'thank you'.

And the boys had welcomed him back with good natured teasing, Fulke declaring that now he had taken ugly pills he must beware and not break mirrors – a joke you could only really make without causing offence to someone good looking – and Wolfram had commented that when they were old enough to want to pull girls, perhaps Conrad would do all the work and share them around.

"And it is more important that you feel no pain now" said Werner "Because whatever your scars, anyone who looked at your eyes could see a good-looking spirit that is deeper than flesh. Besides, little boys our age are designed to be too much covered in dirt to be anything but horrible objects; my mum says boys are made to be dirty, eat too much and smell, because it comes with the design."

"Mothers are rather biased about that sort of thing; I've noticed it myself" said Fulke "It's worse when you have a younger sister who's too young to get in as much trouble and can be held up as an unsullied example."

"And worse when they are twins who conspire" sighed Georgi "And who know how to be cute!"

They had forgotten Conrad's face as they discussed the motion that might be described as 'this house believes that girls are a pernicious influence especially sisters'.

oOoOo

Further up the school, Sara Barbary was settling in well in the fourth year; the girls in her year all seemed pleasant and Silvina she knew through being a pen-pal and as they were both musical she gravitated naturally towards the other girl. Silvina showed her around and did all she could to help Sara feel at home. Sara was also glad of the move – as she told Silvina – because in addition to her music she also was good at both potioneering and chanting, and you could not really get a better teacher in either than Professor Snape, or so she had heard. And it was too very nice to have such small classes!

Silvina blinked a little at that; since the fourth was the largest class in the school and one of the largest ever at the school, with fifteen pupils. She was very glad she had never been to Hogwarts if that was a small class!

Having a music teacher was wonderful.

Godfrey Goodchild had heard all about how Silvina had been denied music and felt deeply for the child, and determined to see that she should catch up properly; and that almost came close to causing a reft between Silvina and Sara.

Sara had always had something of a thing for Godfrey from having been some of the few chanters working together, initially under the leadership of Lydia Snape; and that he was giving extra attention to Silvina hurt.

Godfrey had beamed at Sara.

"Sara's so good and so far on, she'll be able to help you too, Silvina; and then we'll all be able to work together exploring the way the magic of each of you can work through music" he said.

"He's really nice, isn't he?" said Silvina, after the class, utterly unconscious of how Sara felt.

"Yes" said Sara, rather shortly.

Silvina was not that sensitive to people's moods but even she picked up something was wrong.

"I say, does it bug you that he was a schoolboy at your old school and has to be starchy at you because he used not to be a professor?" she asked "Or is it embarrassing that he's a bit gone on you?"

Sara blushed.

"Do – do you think he is?"

"Oh dear have I put my foot in it?" said Silvina "I – I don't reckon he'll be anything but proper; if it gives you the willies having someone who's ancient looking at you a bit too warmly, I can tell him to butt out if you like."

"He ISN'T ancient!" shouted Sara.

"Voice, watch your voice!" said Silvina in alarm "If you damage it if Professor Goodchild doesn't murder you, Professor Snape will! You mean you're gone on him too?"

"Yes" admitted Sara.

Silvina brightened.

"Oh that's all right then; if it was just one way it'd be kind of bad. If you're both going to be mushy together when you're a bit older that's fine. And I can stand cave for you."

"You – you don't fancy him?" asked Sara.

"Frankly I don't fancy anyone" said Silvina "I don't feel ready for it yet. Though I DO rather like Julian more than a little" she added.

Sara grinned.

"Sorted" she said. "No need for me to be jealous of you then."

Silvina stared.

"YOU were jealous of ME? When I envy you like crazy for everything you have – loving parents who let you be musical, good looks, talent, self confidence?"

"You are a prune!" laughed Sara. "We don't either of us need to envy or be jealous of anything about each other; friends don't!"

"Don't let Madam Malfoy hear you mangling the language like that" warned Silvina after they had embraced warmly "She'll set you reps of something ghastly with nesting sentences."

oOoOo

The term was four days old when BaHH, Yrdl and Batty Dubois asked Yrdl's twin sisters Vava and Hette to maraud with them.

"That's all very well, but what does it entail?" asked Hette.

"At our age it's about looking for secret passages and honing our skills playing practical jokes" said BaHH "But older Marauders get to be chosen to help really truly fighting against dark wizards. My brother is part of the First Peak Marauders; and we need a marauder name if you oiks will join us, in the hopes we get invited to be marauders officially and acknowledged by the older ones."

The goblin twins had become accustomed to the concept that the term 'oiks' was not necessarily in any way derogatory. And their big sister was a part of this.

"All right" said Vava "so what do we have to do to be acknowledged? Pull some really good jape?"

"Something like that I guess" said Batty.

"Something like poisoning everyone with the hair raising potion?" said Hette, who was an excellent potioneer.

"If we added elderberries we could chant over the potion while we brewed it to turn their hair purple as well" giggled Vava, who was good at chanting.

"Crumbs, we were right to invite them in!" said BaHH with some respect.

"It'll be noticed if we interfere with juice in the kitchen" said Yrdl "AND we need it to taste like ordinary pumpkin juice so no-one suspects; and then we need to pull a switching spell off."

"We better practise switching spells then" said BaHH "'Cos we're going to HAVE to do it in the jugs; and switch the liquid only. Have you any idea how hard that is?"

"Hard enough to give an almost automatic 'O' grade at OWL transfiguration" said Batty, who had had two older siblings pass through exams. "And us in the third!"

"Huh, all it needs is practise" said BaHH "Let's get to practising, kids, and you twins get into some potion research."

"We haven't got a marauder name" said Yrdl.

"Heh, if it comes off, the purple marauders might not be a bad one" said BaHH. "Or the poisonous marauders!"

"Or the purple poison potion marauders" giggled Hette.

"Too long" opined Vava "It's the purple poison potion jape; and I say, you humans have names starting with 'B' and us goblins adopted the surname 'Breuer' so why don't we be the Bee Marauders and buzz about a lot?"

"Much better" approved BaHH. "I say Yrdl, your kid sisters are on good form!"

"They are rather good" said Yrdl. "I say, BaHH, do you mind being the only boy? I know his name doesn't fit, but now he's settled in, I shouldn't actually object to Crow in with us."

BaHH considered.

"All right; I'll ask him. There are Langstaff relations in the Hogwarts Marauders; AHHa told me a bit about them" he said.

oOoOo

Engelram was much moved to be asked to join a secret gang by the most popular boy in the year; he had learned a lot since coming to school and actually being very close friends with goblins might almost be a private rebellion against his family's rather racist attitudes.

He accepted with alacrity.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The purple poison potion jape had not yet been pulled off when Severus was bearded in his office by Strang, the goblin who worked the cable car.

"There's two types below who say they used to be pupils of yours" he growled "Which, sir, being as you said to beware of reporters ain't necessarily an introduction."

"Did they give their names?" asked Severus.

"That they did; they said they was" he consulted a piece of paper "Nils Tenor and Crys Bass."

"Good grief!" said Severus mildly "well I know they're not reporters; you may bring them up and have Wiggi show them to my office. And thank you for being so efficient."

Strang nodded. It was only his job to field unwanted people, but it was nice to be appreciated.

oOoOo

The Broomstick boys stood before Severus, feeling about twelve and expecting detention. He had picked up a very nasty scar since the last time they had seen him; it had not improved his approachability nor diminished his sternness. He did at least wave them to chairs.

"So, what can I do for some of my ex pupils?" Severus' black eyes glittered.

Crys wondered if they should mutter 'nothing' and flee. Nils smiled tentatively.

"We've been in correspondence with your daughter Lilith, sir" he said.

"Don't blame me; she's Dumbledore's responsibility at the moment" said Severus with a ghost of a smile. Nils grinned; he DID have a lighter side.

"Well, she's no fan; but we were rather impressed when a fan wrote to complain that she'd enchanted a photo of us to er, fart a song of ours" he said "So we wrote, and asked if she was your relative. And she told us that her father regretted not knowing then what he subsequently learned or we would have been your star chanting pupils rather than writing second rate songs for second rate teenagers. It – well, it kind of had your style to is, so we figured she really was quoting, and wondered if – if it was too late to learn. You take post NEWT students here don't you?"

Severus blinked.

"I charge an arm and a leg for it" he said, a little nonplussed "It subsidises the poor children from slums with talent that I take."

Nils beamed.

"That's all right sir; I reckon our last album will pay for it. The use of muggle gramophones and brass disks with music on is a fantastic use of muggle artefacts, makes us a mint. We can pay. And reckon if we'd not had private music lessons we'd have been dead miserable!"

"Well then!" said Severus "You are generous to charity; I may not like your style of music but it's undeniably crafted, not just sung; and you do make an effort to breathe. And nowadays I should have enjoyed the jape of you making the barrel of horned toads croak in chorus. I was a little….preoccupied and snippy when I was expecting the return of the Dark Lord and anticipating being under cover. You left the year after Harry started as I recall."

"Yes sir; and well chuffed to be at school, however briefly, with the Chosen One."

"Do NOT even go there! That damned prophecy caused us too much grief to want to think about it – I don't believe that prophecies count until some party goes out of their way to act to change them or fulfil them!"

Crys had settled down and chuckled.

"I still recall you commenting on one girl who believed every word Trelawney said – it went 'Miss Barratt, if you must maudle what laughingly passes as your brains with the turgid and incompetent maunderings of the inept, inutile and infantile, I suggest that you keep its moronic evolutions within the roiling disaster of the unfortunate concatenation of your own thoughts, that may only be described as thought in the loosest and most charitable fashion'. I wrote it in my notebook and learned it by heart."

Severus grinned.

"HOW I loathed Powlerless Polly-put-the-kettle-on! – uh, Madam Trelwaney. A good job you never heard me on the subject to my ward – she's my wife now – about the cacaceous effluvium and I really don't actually remember what I said, save it was scatological without descent into swearing. It was a reproof to Krait, in light of the richness of the language, for calling it a load of old crap" he added. "Language is IMPORTANT; and if you want to take chanting seriously, I shall expect you to look upon it as such; and to study Ancient Runes too. You don't need high levels in it; just enough to know if a different language becomes more appropriate. For practical purposes, you can always get someone to write you a chant to your specifications in the language of your choice, same as you can get an arithmancer to calculate an equation to enclose within a chant. You should study Arithmancy further too, though, to help you. If you work under me, you'll be working hard; and for ease, both for you and for me, I'll be putting you in with some sixth form classes. Are you happy with that?"

"Should be fun" said Nils "Though perhaps we'd better have pseudonyms in case we have to deal with fans."

"I will tell them firmly that any attempt to disrupt your serious studies with their foolish and juvenile infatuations will lead to their fathers being hit with a law suit for the cost of your disrupted studying" said Severus "Most youngsters are far more chary of irritating their parents than they are of irritating teachers – or the famous. Trust me; it'll work."

"Lord, I'll say!" said Crys "I'd never dare brook you, sir, even now!"

"My post NEWT students call me Severus" said Severus "Though I prefer you to refer to me as Professor Snape to the students – if you mix with them at all. Two of the girls in the upper sixth are shy, one has scarcely realised that there is quidditch let alone quidditch songs and the rest are dire. The boys are all right but I'm dreading teaching Amortentia. I shall be drowned, I fear, in giggle. The lower sixth aren't a bad bunch all round. Emily's a fan of yours but not silly about it. You should be fairly safe."

"Thanks" said Nils. "And you're right of course; it WOULD get out, then someone would feel it their duty to write to some paper or other."

"I have a 'reporters will be transfigured' policy at the moment" said Severus grimly "I have the unfortunate Zabini boy. He's a nice kid and doesn't deserve hassle – and nor do you if you are looking to learn more than I was able to give you at Hogwarts. And as you are rich I shan't offer you a discount. I've made contacting the papers an expelling offence for his safety; it'll extend to you. Though I suggest you write an article for a serious magazine explaining that you are taking a sabbatical and are not giving up on your adoring fans. I presume you are not giving up on your adoring fans?"

"We weren't planning to" said Nils "But if we could learn more as well, it means we have a secondary career within our capabilities and perhaps it may add depth to our music too."

Severus nodded and smiled.

"I like your attitude" he said "Very well; I'll get you assigned rooms. The dinner bell is going shortly; my post NEWTers have their own table, save those who are teaching alongside private study."

oOoOo

The news that the Broomstick Boys were to study beyond NEWT level was met on the part of some – mostly girls – with wild excitement; on the part of others – mostly boys – with tepid indifference and on the part of Irmi Luytens with the bewildered question – audible to the eponymous Boys – asked,

"But who then ARE these broomstick boys? Are they of a quidditch team?"

Emily Grant was quick to fill in her classmate; then rose.

"Miss Grant?" said Severus.

"Please sir, could we get all the inevitable silliness out of the way from the little ones and the little ones in the upper sixth by asking Mr Bass and Mr Tenor if they would give a day to signing autographs, being photographed and giving a brief talk to answer pre-submitted questions so that the daftness is less likely to break out when their sillier fans moon around like lovestruck ducks?" she suggested "I'm a fan but I DO like to think that I've outgrown all that er, er….." she faltered trying to find an acceptable alternative to the word 'crap' which she had been formulating in her mind.

"The description you want, Miss Grant, is feculently turgid morbidity of non-thought" said Severus. Emily beamed on him.

"Thank you sir; you always put things so beautifully" she said.

Severus turned to Crys and Nils.

"What do you think of Miss Grant's idea?" he asked.

"Blunt and not especially flattering; obviously trained by you sir" quipped Nils "But essentially a damn good idea; it would be a good idea to answer any questions and take a day to allow everyone to get used to us and to find out that we're just a couple of young men who want to learn more. And perhaps we can finish with a big sing song, with anyone who likes to perform taking the stage and with whole school songs?"

Severus nodded.

"I DO hope you know all seventeen verses of 'There's a Zombie in My Attic'" he said sweetly.

"Seventeen?" Crys was shocked.

"It grows with the singing" said Severus "Being many-headed and mutable like any other dark creature."

oOoOo

The day next was set aside for the Broomstick Boys.

"I don't see why people can't make up and just sing their own quidditch songs" muttered Ron to Viktor Krumm "You're far more famous than them; silly moos these girls."

Viktor grinned.

"Ah, but people here have got used to me; and for that I am pleased. It is nice to be just one of the professors. They are harmless these young men, and seem pleasant; and I think it will be nice for them too to have all what our Emily calls the silliness put aside. Though there are those er, little ones of the upper sixth as she so devastatingly put it who will continue to be silly. These boys love quidditch as you do; but have no skill. You should pity them for that, and give them haven from the Tugwood twins and such."

Ron brightened.

"You're right, Vik mate" he said "I'm not anywhere in your league – though I'm good when I'm inspired – but I have played for my house, and even against your national team – and against the ruddy fey. And I'd rather play quidditch any day than only be able to write songs about it. I'll do my best to rescue them when they need it."

The autograph hunting, photograph taking and silly questions culminated in an all school impromptu concert; and Godfrey Goodchild made notes on the performance of Crys and Nils to use to give them pointers later over the bad habits they had picked up.

And Silvina had a new piece, that she could now turn into proper musical notation, with a bit of help, called 'Walking on the Alm' about her response to the beautiful alpine pastures that she now started to enjoy, as she was learning to enjoy so much.

And when it was finished, and the clapping died down, Nils rose and said,

"If you want our autographs when there's a real genius in your own school I'm ruddy well stunned" and sat down again.

Silvina flushed.

The Broomstick Boys were actually very impressed by the general level of virtuosity and skill; and Nils said to Godfrey – who had played flute –

"We DO have a lot to learn; and I reckon we've needed this experience to take us down a peg or two."

Godfrey, suddenly liking the man more than he had ever thought he would, grinned.

"Those of us who have at any time been denied music by our parents push harder to achieve it" he said "And I won a scholarship to be trained by a music teacher of Lucius Malfoy's choice; not the most fashionable one. You've good instincts; but I'd say your teacher taught you a few too many tricks and not enough solid basis. Your songs appeal because they're simple and singable; but I can see ways they might be even better – because you've tagged on tricks. But you have the capacity for greatness in knowing that there is more to learn – and being prepared to admit that. I admire that. And as some of us are actually trying to find what there is to learn in some aspects of our craft I hope you'll like to work beside us on that!"

"We should be honoured" said Crys, meaning it. "To be part of something new is exciting!"

oOoOo

The feast after the concert was decorated by the purple poison potion jape.

Those who downed their pumpkin juice in one gulp felt the effects first; and then those who had merely drunk quickly. And gradually conversation petered out as everyone stared around at the effects on each other.

Severus rapped on the table.

"Would the cleverer pupils mind enlightening the rest of us how they achieved this universal bad hair day and advising whether it has a similarly brief time of effect as a normal hair-raising potion?" he said.

The Bee Marauders stood and grinned at him.

"Ah. Another layer of would-be marauders I see" said Severus "HOW did you get that past the house elves?"

"Switching charms!" said Yrdl.

"We practised like stink!" said BaHH.

"It's most awf'lly hard" said Crow

"But we managed it!" said Batty.

"And we did the potion research!" said the twins in unison, not to be left out.

"SWITCHING spells? At your age? Impressive piece of mischief!" said Severus. "From container to jug, too, not switching the whole vessel…. Purple. HOW did you achieve purple?"

"Dried elderberries and a jolly good chant" said Vava.

"We bought our own ingredients" supplied Hette.

"I see" said Severus "Well, the lot of you can take a detention writing up all your method for me. You didn't add any extension to the time the potion lasts did you, in your chanting?" he added hastily.

"Oh no sir! At least, I don't THINK so" said Vava "If it did, it was unintentional."

"Let's hope you didn't" said Severus with a stern look. "Ladies and gentlemen, the purple pilulous peril of your fiendishly fantastic follicles should wear off in a couple of hours. Enjoy it – or otherwise – while it lasts. An example of how chanting can add to the most simple of potions. If the effect does NOT wear off, I shall have to issue further detention to learn the better control of chanting."

"Lumme, worth having purple hair standing on end, just to hear Snape – er, Severus – in full flow at the miscreants!" murmured Crys to Nils.

oOoOo

The purple hair returned to normal over the course of the evening and those who had been banished to bed before it did woke up to varying degrees of either relief or disappointment.

Severus called for attention at breakfast for Professor Fraser.

David stood up.

"I've set up warning signs in the forest, attached to muggle repelling charms, and I've done it for a very good reason" he said tersely "My pet griffon Godrica has given birth to a pair of kittens; and I am sure I do not have to remind you that even domestic kneazles can be quite dangerous when protecting their young. Those of you who have been to see Godrica know that she is skittish at the best of times; the notices that say 'trespassers will be eaten' are NOT put up in jest. Anyone who passes those warning signs is volunteering themselves as meat for Godrica's young. And frankly, human flesh isn't very good for her, so even if you are the tiresome sort of brat who likes to be disobedient for the sake of it, I'd rather you didn't. I take my pet's health very seriously. If you stay outside the perimeter I have set up you are not in the least bit in danger, Miss Tugwood" As Amy Tugwood's hand went up "I can see the thought forming in your transparent little head that dangerous creatures ought not to be permitted at school, and I ask you if you also have thought that through to realise that Abraxans and Hippogryffs are equally as dangerous when they have young and if you would like to suggest to the owners of such domestic riding beasts that they give them up. You are NOT in danger. If I were rearing a Hungarian Horntail you would have some cause for complaint, but I am not so please try not to make even more of an ass of yourself than usual."

David did NOT like Amy Tugwood; she had shrieked artistically to cling to his arm when he had shown Godrica at a safe distance to the class two years ago; and it had frightened Godrica. It had also irritated Ellie. Being married did NOT preclude David from being mooned at as one of the handsome men around.

He was much relieved that Godrica had returned to give birth; she had disappeared early in the spring and he had tried very hard not to be disappointed that she had made a bid for independence; except that it seemed it was more a quest for motherhood than anything else. She had returned before the end of term, looking smug, and had proceeded to blossom, sending David running for books with anything in them about griffon obstetrics. The written information was very limited.

She had permitted him to pet her up to the time she went into labour; and then permitted him to watch, at a safe – from her point of view – distance recording the business on omnioculars to share with other wildlife enthusiasts like Orlando Carcano. Godrica was special to David; but having records of how it SHOULD happen would be helpful for future reference if anyone was helping with a birth that needed more intervention. Both kittens were born in cauls that Godrica pierced with her sharp beak and then preened the little bodies before nudging them round to her nipples on her leonine belly. They had not formed hard beaks yet, having a slight leathery protrusion over their mouths to allow a start in life with maternal milk; and David hypothesised that this would harden and grow into a true beak as Godrica weaned them. He planned on keeping daily records with the aid of Ellen Tugwood, his only NEWT student. Ah, and that was the source of the trouble with Amy. Ellen was taking four NEWTs, one more than Amy, and that extra one was in Care of Beasts. Ellen was claiming independence from her rather clinging twin. Poor Ellen! It was going to be a rough time for her; she was the more sensible of the twins but got herself dragged into silliness by Amy. Well, David would emphasise to her how he always expected Godrica to claim independence and that true love permits room to grow; to hopefully give Ellen strength to grow up on her own. He would also ask Helga Von Strang to ask Ellen to walk with her sometimes to give her another partner than her sister to chat to; hard lines on shy Lily Smethly, but if he spoke to Lily too and explained what he hoped to achieve, she was a good girl and might herself find strength to ask Ellen to walk with her at times, or sit with her for prep as both were taking charms and potions.

Teenage girls were the very devil.

But this was good practice for next year when he would be headmaster at Hogwarts.

And Godrica would probably accompany him; her offspring would by then be mostly grown and capable of taking care of themselves. And it might not be a bad idea to give one of them to Jade and Wulf for THEIR school; to avoid brother and sister mating and causing genetic problems of consanguinity.

oOoOo

The Broomstick Boys settled happily in and though they found adapting to academic work hard at first soon found their feet, enjoying the research that was going on as well as agreeing that Professor Snape might be just as tough as he ever was, but at least he was a lighter personality these days.

The chanting HURT.

Severus insisted that they learn how to breathe after the manner of opera singers; which would have, he pointed out, the side effects of both improving their voices and ensuring that their singing careers would last longer. Crys and Nils would never have considered the option of learning anything to do with opera since they despised it as pretentious; but when asked how long they could sing without losing their voices – about two hours, they estimated – they stared in horror when Severus pointed out that they would have not then been equal to the eight hour chant some of them took part in.

They asked about so momentous a chant; and Severus explained how he had determined that house elves had a compulsion tied in to their very heritance that made them self punish for so little as disloyal thoughts – of the nature, Severus pointed out grimly, most of his own pupils occasionally felt about him – and that he and others considered this so evil they had taken steps to remove it from England and to try to get foreign elves to visit to break the compulsion by crossing the chant line.

The young men were impressed.

In common with almost all the wizarding world, especially those who had never owned house elves but accepted their existence, they had never thought about the matter; or even, really, realised other than dimly that elves punished themselves, or wondered why. Being, on the whole, pleasant young men they were much horrified and duly impressed with those who had undertaken such a drastic chant.

"If you get enough people to chant do you reckon you can one day free all elves in Europe from this awful thing?" asked Nils.

"WELL now!" said Severus "I can't say I had ever dared seriously consider so momentous a step; but as you mention it, it is an ambition worth striving for" he hesitated. "One reason it worked so well was that those of us that did it were part of the blood pact to help Harry; Harry indeed was a part of it, though he's never been one of my best chanters. He was inspired that day" he added softly.

"We read your book sir" said Crys "Even if at first it was because we thought it might be a hoot to read anything written by you that bandied about a word like 'love' in the title."

Nils kicked him on the ankle and Severus gave a wry smile.

"Ah, what it is to have a reputation as the er, 'famous sneering agelast' as some of the school song writers will have it" he said. "It is a word too many people shy away from; I've been guilty of it myself. And I have to say I always DREAD teaching the so-called love potions because there are always prurient giggles. One year I had almost uncontrollable Ravenclaws who found the idea of the juxtaposition of me and love potions and a discussion on infatuation and true love too much for them to take seriously. The class on Amortentia is to be endured. What did you think of the book once you got over smirking?"

Crys flushed.

"Well actually sir, if we hadn't read it, I guess we might not have taken young Lilith up on her suggestion" he said honestly.

"It gave us some insights into a Professor Snape not usually displayed to horrid and troublesome small boys" said Nils "Of course, when you're at school, professors aren't hardly human anyway, at least, not until you're in the sixth; and ascribing depths to them is sort of alien to the schoolchild's mentality."

"It is where the MSHG scores" said Severus "Having a group of professors prepared to be human out of school in return for the self discipline amongst participating pupils to be correct in school. It was a code name to hide us from children of deatheaters" he explained "And it's just stuck. If you care to join in first thing in the mornings, you'll pick up a lot from those kids with more esoteric skills than usual."

Crys groaned.

"That'll be tough for someone who is NOT a morning person" he said.

"If you recommend it we'll manage to get up" said Nils. "Your book was very learned and yet readable; I think it debunked the idea that blood magic must necessarily be dark very successfully. Will your chanters HAVE to be part of a blood pact?"

"Not necessarily; so long as they have their elf helpers and are protected by non-chanting individuals too" said Severus "Chanting opens you right up; it sets you at risk from the Sidhe or Fey, who hold their own servants in a like thrall. You never covered them in DADA?"

"No sir" said Nils.

"Hmmph" said Severus "Redcaps you will have done; and pogrebin, two of the lesser fey who are considerably less dangerous then their highfey counterparts. Dementors are approximately of the fey, and being limited by their nature by no means the most dangerous. Ah, you pale; I think you are starting to see the risks."

"If we can learn to counter the risks and have backup, we'd still be willing, Severus" said Nils quietly.

He was treated to one of Severus' rare warm smiles.

"Spoken like a TRUE Gryffindor, Nils; not one of the half-baked variety that hares off without considering risk, and only half prepared to be a dead hero" said Severus "I prefer live heroes myself; and if you'll learn and THEN act, you've got the best possible chance of living to tell the tale. In England the ceremony went off without the Highfey actually realising what we were up to until we'd done it; and as no two fey communities manage to talk without quarrelling, we've a good chance of pulling the same stunt in Europe. Well, as you've suggested it, I'll maybe ask some geomancers to run some studies of where to set our circle and its cardinal points; I'd set you as secondary chanters and keep the primaries as blood group. And there being more of us now, more support. And Lionel and his group perhaps as secondaries too" he murmured. "Though most of the girls are breeding….. well, no hurry. Too soon to do it this year; but NEXT solstice….give you plenty of time to learn more too" he added. "Though Krait will have birthed by then…. Well, we shall see"

"I don't think we'll have learned enough by this Yule" said Crys.

"No; you won't" said Severus. "But you've already learned enough to say 'this can be done' not 'this is impossibly hard'; and having the vision to accept that dedication, love and sheer cussed, stubborn refusal to accept the impossible. We grew a lot, all of us" he chuckled ruefully "And set up the basis for most of the post NEWT work at that, by Krait having been reared as a muggle up to when she was fifteen and assuming that if magic existed then it could do anything you could find a reason to let it do. Her instinctive assimilative correlation by all manner of jiggery pokery, casuistry, sophistry and blatant bad puns never ceased to amaze me; and I've learned to stop being amazed and just learn how to make leaps of faith for myself. It seems to work" he grinned.

Grinning was another thing the Broomstick Boys would never have associated with stern Professor Snape; but somehow it suited Severus the man. They grinned shyly back.

This year was going to be FUN!

And they got the chance to do something really serious with it too; which was good!

oOoOo

Severus was seriously considering expanding the bloodgroup again. Jade had called on the blood group; actually two of the Durmstrang bloodgroup had been the foci and had burned a large number of inferii; but not only was there a dark wizard about who wanted to be the Voldemort of eastern Europe but he had managed to raise a Scythian wizard of dubious morals and decidedly undead. And the group had much to do if that was to be another issue.

They had been dangerously weakened by the last chant; they had used two dozen chanters and that had constituted so many of the bloodgroup that there had been no backup to feed them strength. It was the skill of the chanters, not merely their proximity, that made the circle; though Severus was of the opinion that at least three dozen chanters would be required. Lionel and his blood group had fed them fluid replenishing potions and cocoa last time and seen to bodily needs, but Lionel at least was a skilled chanter now. If the best of his chanters and the best of the main blood group's chanters and some volunteer secondary chanters – Nils and Crys, and perhaps Lucius and Byron Beckard and Tony Queach and the like – were to form the main chanting group, Lionel's other people could feed power to him and his chanters and the others of the bloodgroup could feed THEIR chanters and those not blooded could form a secondary, inner ring.

And Irmi had spoken to him about Sebastian Cantripp; and he had considered Angelica Hellibore more than once. The Grant boys were not QUITE the right feel; though they were related by marriage to Chad Fenwick who was a Marauder. It did not always follow.

And there were young Marauders in the school.

They would blood in naturally; but Angelica and Sebastian must be sounded out. And he would also ask Tarquin and Ismenia if they would like to be like their adoptive siblings.

If there were any at Hogwarts this year too, they would be coming close to thirteen squared; and it would be a good arithmantic number considering the fey feared thirteen; and goblins considered it lucky for being a prime number too, as well as being feared by many wizards. Thirteen had always been a good number when marauders used it. Yes, that would be right! He grinned. Though of course his calculations would almost certainly be offset by whoever managed to have babies in the meantime too. Never mind arithmantic symmetry of numbers in the blood group; it was big enough to be self sustaining without counting. Merely that one did not have to worry if it held for any length of time on one hundred and sixty nine.

He went in search of Angelica.

"You know about the blood group of course" he said baldly.

"Yes Severus" said Angelica "I've often wondered if it would be a cheek to ask to be part of it."

Severus grinned.

"Then you won't throw a hissy fit if I suggest that you do" he said.

"Isn't that rather a direct and to the point description of a childishly ridiculous display of hysterical excess for you, Severus?" said Angelica.

He laughed.

"Snide brat!" he said "I can be direct and to the point – when I need to be. And with those close to being family" he added. "Jade dithered several times over asking you. She was afraid that despite everything you might be too much a Cackle's girl."

"Oh well, I suppose friends ARE allowed to be insulting" said Angelica "I'm a Snape's pupil through and through, Severus. I'm ready to stand by and bleed for whatever grand project you have in mind like taking over Russia or whatever."

"You do know me too well" said Severus. "The Broomstick boys suggested freeing all European elves from self punishment compulsions. I was thinking seriously about it."

"Lumme!" said Angelica "And you want some half competent chanters as backup; well I guess I'm willing."

"You may end up supporting not chanting; I'll choose the best of the best" said Severus.

She shrugged.

"I'll do what I can" she said simply. "I owe your family so much; and I can pull my weight to pass that on."

"You're a good girl Angelica" said Severus "And you've a decent family too. And you're realist enough to know that you could be mopping up blood, sweat, and urine and feeding exhausted stinking chanters with sundry potions – that I'll be preparing in proper quantities now I know what we need!"

"And THAT I can certainly help with" said Angelica. Potions was one of the three 'O' grade NEWTs she had; the only girl of her year from the original Cackle's girls to take as many as six; and indeed the first to do so.

"Yes you can" said Severus.

He approached Irmi to ask Sebastian.

Irmi beamed.

"Oh thank you Severus!" she said "I feel a bit mean towards Adrian, who also hangs out with us, but, well, Seb FEELS right and Adrian doesn't; though I guess he had all the QUALITIES to be a Marauder."

"It has to feel right" said Severus "At first we forced a few issues to make a team; people who disliked each other before blooding. Only with that we were united in a love of Harry Potter; and THAT made it all right."

Irmi nodded.

"Yes; as we all love and support you" she said. "Or whoever is a focus; like Jade."

Severus made a non-committal sort of noise. He was still always surprised to be loved by his pupils, even blooded ones!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Sebastian stared open mouthed as Irmi filled him in on certain things.

"Crumbs!" he said "I guess that explains a lot of things… and you want ME to be your blood brother? I – I guess I was sort of hoping you'd be my girlfriend, not a sister…" he blushed furiously.

"You poor prune" said Irmi, who drew freely on her adored stepmother's vocabulary "We can't love as deeply anyone who ISN'T blood joined; no-one blood joined marries anyone who isn't. I mean" she blushed too "Talking about married is going way too fast but…..well, it'd make us closer. And I want to be your girlfriend."

Sebastian brightened.

"Oh! Well that's all right then" he said "What do we do and when do we do it?"

"We wait" said Irmi severely "To be invited to a ceremony. Severus is expecting to bring in another layer of Marauders and it's sort of silly not to bring in odd people as well. He's sometimes a bit stuffy about bringing in people unless they need protecting – like I did – if they're not proven Marauders because he kind of feels it's not fair on people; so I expect he's got something big on hand like going against Odessa in Russia where it's still going and is less scrupulous about getting supporters in. He's such an old softy really and agonises over if it's right or not."

"A big softy is NOT what I'd use as a descriptor of the famous sneering agelast" said Sebastian with feeling, having just received back an essay with rather a lot of red ink on it, whereupon the shortest and most innocuous criticism was 'fatuous twaddle'.

Irmi giggled.

"Well you shouldn't do your prep at the last minute when you KNOW it's nearly bed time" she said. "I thought that 'the effluent of your turgid thought processes appears to equal the feculent concatenation of the poorer efforts of first year cauldron work' was fair comment on the crap you wrote, actually."

"Here, steady on!" said Sebastian "I know true friends don't mince words but that IS going too far!"

Irmi giggled.

"I don't HAVE to mince words; Professor Snape does it with far more skill then me" she said. He poked her.

This led to some agreeable making up that went beyond the tentative smiles they had so far exchanged and left Irmi rather breathless; and thinking how much nicer it would be when his blood sang with hers!

oOoOo

Tarquin was dead keen to start Hogwarts next year blooded; and to be closer to his adoptive brother and best friend Sevvy as well as to Lilith and Richard on either side of him in age.

Ismenia considered deeply.

"You're rather young" said Severus "No older than Lydia was when we brought her in; and that was only to protect her."

"Why ISN'T I bloodgroup daddy?" asked Ismenia.

Severus lifted her onto his lap.

"Because although it takes a man to be a father, any male can make a baby with a lady" he said "I am your daddy because I want to be; but a nasty man made mummy pregnant when she was still just a schoolgirl, before she joined my other wives. And she chose to have her baby; because it wasn't fair not to let you be born, even though she didn't plan a baby. Because you had happened. And I said Krait and Sirri and I would help bring you up; and then mummy became my dear wife too, so you really became my little girl. But it was before SHE was blooded in; and as my seed did not make you, you didn't get it from me either."

"Oh!" said Ismenia "But Remus and Humphrey have got it?"

"Yes" said Severus.

"I think I want to be it too; or it's not fair" said Ismenia "I would have chosed to be your little girl for real. What happened to the bad man?"

"I jinxed him into a ball for hurting one of my pupils" said Severus with grim satisfaction "And with jinxes that wouldn't stop him working but that he couldn't undo."

Ismenia considered this.

"Good" she said "He's NOT my father."

"If you like, poppet, when we do the blood joining, we can also do a special chant to make you more mine than his" said Severus.

"Yes" said Ismenia firmly. "Come and see my fairies, daddy; I've got them all nice counterpanes that I've sewed to hibernate in, in my fairy house."

A little girl had her priorities after all; and once assured Severus could be her real daddy with a chant, fairies became uppermost in her mind.

Ismenia collected most of her fairies in the greenhouses; where they huddled for warmth especially at nights. Fairies did not truly hibernate but were inclined to become very torpid with cold, and to sleep for great parts of the winter unless welcome indoors somewhere; one reason – apart from their vanity – that they liked to be Christmas tree decorations.

Valerie Burdock had been rather taken aback to see a small child in those greenhouses that held some of the more challenging plants; but as she had been about to quietly pounce on the child to evict her, the little girl had absently cast bluebell flames – controlled and without a wand! – at the devil's snare plant that was attracted to her movement sending it cowering back.

"You recognise the plant, then?" asked Valerie.

Ismenia regarded her solemnly.

"Only a true dork with ambitions of imbecility mistakes devil's snare for flitterbloom" she said "But mummy says the world is unfortunately full of dorks so I s'pose it was a fair question."

"Who is mummy?" asked Valerie.

"My mummy is Dione Parnassus Snape; my other mummies are mummy Krait and mummy Sirri" said Ismenia. "You must be Madam Burdock" and she beamed.

Valerie was still adjusting to being Madam Burdock; last year she had been a schoolgirl – and that had been something that was wonderful enough! – and now she was teaching, a respected pillar of the community!

"You are a talented child!" she said.

Ismenia considered.

"I don't THINK so" she said "I'm not as good as some of my siblings. Only mummy said if I was going to muck around rescuing fairies from greenhouses I needed to know what spells could irritate the more aggressive plants. I don't go in with the snargaluffs of course, but I CAN repot baby mandrakes. And of course I know the shield charm like anyone who's old enough to use magic, but I can't do any jinxes yet."

"My good brat, you're damned lucky to grow up expecting to know the shield charm before school; I still have trouble with it" said Valerie. "Where I come from, I don't suppose more than one in twenty adults knows it, let alone the kids."

Ismenia blinked.

"Oh; perhaps it's because daddy fights Odessa and dark wizards and likes us to be prepared then" she said. "I'm sorry you have trouble; why don't you come to the MSHG? I'm allowed to join in now and we practise all sorts of stuff. As well as running to help s'stain spells, which means" she wrinkled her brow "Hold them up a long time which you might need to in a real fight. 'Cos bad people have to be obliteeriated" she added.

Draco's mispronunciation in the mouth of the character Convolvumort had entered the common parlance of Snapelings and Malfoylings alike.

"Well….. I should think it's a family thing" said Valerie "I wouldn't intrude."

"Oh no!" said Ismenia "It's for anyone at school; and the rule is, you call professors first names in the club but you have to be proper in school. When I go to Hogwarts I shall have to call all daddy's friends Professor this or that in lessons even though they're all uncles out of school. And even that's going to be better than having a daddy as the headmaster, Lilith says. Lilith went up to Hogwarts last year. She's AWFULLY talented."

Valerie had heard enough to know that Lilith had gone up to Hogwarts early and was doing spectacularly well; and that this child spoke of her older sister's talent with pride not resentment spoke well of the way the Snapes – and their odd ménage – handled Lilith's talent.

And having three wives who were not discarded and seemed best friends was a nicer thing than Kordach's ever-changing catalogue of mistresses at that.

"Well, young 'un, I am going to have to ask you to hop it" said Valerie "I have a class in here in ten minutes."

Ismenia bobbed her a curtsey, beamed, and took herself off.

Valerie had never been curtsied to before, wondered briefly if the girl was taking the mickey and decided she was too young to know how and merely displayed the amazing courtesy that the Austrian people seemed to do, having essentially grown up here.

The class was the second; and they were to be started off right away on pruning Abyssinian Shrivelfig.

The class filed in politely and waited to be invited to sit on the stools at the benches down the centre of the greenhouse. Valerie smiled austerely.

"Be seated class" she said.

That had been a shock to her and her fellows when they started the free school only five years ago, she and her closest friends being in the fourth; the idea of rising for professors. It had soon become habit, and it WAS a good idea; it had the class ready and receptive for having taken part in a small ritual to start it. And that meant it went beyond courtesy and had practical applications too. And that, as a professor, she was learning. She had received good advice from Professor Longbottom and Madam Carmichael-Malfoy too; to keep the children at a distance and to be harder on any that were for any reason likely to be favourites. Madam Carmichael had said 'like when they're yours or the children of a friend' which was unlikely to occur for a while; but if for any reason she was teaching that engaging child with the fairies it would be good advice.

The second beamed expectantly. There were three goblins, a child who could pass as a Malfoy, six other humans and an elf girl. That was something not to be found in the free school; though part fey might occasionally turn up. Valerie acknowledged that it was a shock to find goblins in what she thought of vaguely as a 'posh' school; though it was serving the function of an alternative to Durmstrang so…. Well, there was to be a new school for goblins and mudbloods, and her friend Mortimer Bane was to be teaching in it next year; and it was said entrance to Prince Peak would be by exam only. And how many goblins would then come? That remained to be seen.

These thoughts passed through Valerie's mind as she introduced herself, and the task in hand and sent the class to get on with it.

They got about their task with a surprising lack of noise and without jostling or fussing; and that was one of the main differences between posh kids and the rather feral kids of the Umbrous Lane complex she supposed. The class WAS a well behaved one – the Breuer twins notwithstanding – and they had, moreover, been much impressed by Anett Breuer's explanations last year that if they expected a little genteel gardening, they should consider the more feisty plants such as had been set on the Triwizard champions.

Valerie was impressed and thought the class very competent.

They were none of them incompetent; but again they had, most of them, had advantages the children of the Umbrous Lane complex had not had, being familiar with plants for the most part other than weeds in the pavement. Valerie corrected the few mistakes, and had the pleasure of seeing children solemnly trying to do it properly after correction; one of the little thrills in teaching, where a few words have made a difference to the abilities of a child. She would not know for a while the greatest thrill, that of seeing a class obtain good results; but to know that she could demonstrate techniques was a small victory, and she began to relax.

She had been afraid she would hate teaching or be no good at it, for having only had four years of education; but it was going to be fine!

Valerie started asking questions to check the class's knowledge and found them able to answer fully; and that was a relief too. She was going to enjoy herself!

Valerie was having to settle in with the other members of staff too; and it had to be said she had arrived feeling a trifle defensive.

She was one of four new teachers; two of whom had come from Hogwarts, one because she had married one of the existing teachers; and the famous quidditch player Viktor Krumm. Even Valerie, who was no quidditch fan, had heard of Viktor Krumm; and expected him to be some stuck up self opinionated git.

She had been chatting to him for several minutes before she vaguely started to realise that he had a slight accent, when he waved at Madam Granger and called her 'Hermowininny' having learned to improve on his pronunciation of her name. He explained happily to Valerie that 'Hermowininny' and Ron Weasley and Harry Potter and David Fraser had all been great friends of his in Hogwarts, from the time of the Triwizard for the first three, and David later, as allies in the fight against Odessa and racism. And he added how pleased he was that he was to teach with all of them except Harry, who was an Auror! Valerie had not realised that several of the professors had been Harry Potter's famous bodyguard – but of course, they had the scar! And there was a lot about the whole business in the press – between the scandal about that poor Zabini boy – because this was to be the tenth anniversary of the killing of Voldemort, to be celebrated at the end of the Easter term. And she had not realised that Viktor Krumm had managed to fight dark wizards between his career as a mere quidditch player!

Valerie though the other new male teacher seemed stuck up when he failed to answer her until the new female teacher poked him hard and said,

"Hey, Godders, you're being spoke to you dozy prune."

"Eh what? Sorry?" said Godfrey Goodchild "'Scuse, I'm sure, have you a pencil Dimsie?"

Dimsie Burke-Nuffield sighed and handed him a pencil and conjured paper with an aplomb that made Valerie envious; and the young man started scribbling furiously.

"Musical you know" said Dimsie "He was always in trouble at school for leaving half his brain in a symphony; except in Professor Queach's class because Professor Queach actually got banned potions on those days he had a tune in his head when HE was at school from the day he embedded a cauldron in the ceiling when it exploded. That was when our very own Krait Malfoy Snape was teaching junior potions at Hogwarts."

"My name being taken in vain there?" said Krait. "Oh yes, Tony Queach was the world's greatest dream! He wised up as he got older after I threatened him with laxative to get his tunes out if they were causing him so much trouble my pearls of wisdom were lost; at least I don't think any of your juniors are so much dreamers Dimsie."

Dimsie laughed.

"Lee says that Sarah Elliot in the second can go off into an artistic brown study but then she IS muggle born so I suppose his lessons are less interesting to her" she said. "And as Severus has been training the juniors as well I should think the second and above will be on the ball in potions. I have to say the first seem mostly harmless. Evadne Horrocks is a bit of a pompous prig, but no VICE to her; and she takes explanations."

"Oh lumme, not another Marianne Wilder" groaned Krait "Mind you, Wilder's problem was that she would try to liberate people who didn't need liberating – imagine explaining to the daughter of the foremost goblin rights activist what her rights were!"

Dimsie giggled.

"I bet Garjala gave her short shrift!" she said.

"I'll say; so did Hermione, who was head of house at the time, because the wretched girl had a go at HER over what she was doing for the rights of others; and Hermie, as well as standing up vigorously for other muggleborn WAS the founder of the Society for Provoking Elves Wantonly…."

"Krait! You KNOW it was the Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare!" said Hermione, outraged.

"Whether, at first, they wanted their welfare promoted or not….Gotcha, there, Hermie! And actually Wilder had her uses because she made you think even more deeply than Sirri's shouting at you about not forcing people into doing what they weren't ready for. Valerie, did you find in the Umbrous Place complex that a lot of people weren't ready to embrace education because it was too new and scary so they took refuge in calling it sissy and stuff?" Krait drew Valerie in.

The new Herbology teacher blushed and nodded.

"I guess they were afraid of failure" she said "Only Professor Longbottom said to us that if we truly worked hard there was no failure, just different degrees of success."

"Quite right" said Krait.

"I'll vouch for that personally" said Dimsie "I had to work hard to overcome some pretty bad things happening in my life – a cursed necklace that nearly killed me by someone wanting to get at my dad being one of them – and it's hard to work when there are those making fun of you, but to do so is a personal triumph. And to overcome yourself too; I was an egregious brat before I learned about life. You may have been one of the other kids that beat me up in Obscura Alley, Val. Do you answer to Val or do you prefer the full form."

Valerie stared.

"You – surely you're not Dympna Burke?"

Dimsie laughed.

"Oh I used to be, but she wasn't a very nice little girl, so I hatched into Dimsie and grew up" she said. "And so far as I'm concerned, if there IS any past between us, it's past – and gone."

"I – well I must say that's decent of you. Yes, I was among the ones who helped torment you when I could" said Valerie. "And – well, I suppose I've changed for having the chance at education."

"Education comes in many forms" said Dimsie "I got mine from adversity; and that's education in life. And it's an awful responsibility, isn't it, to have the knowledge that anything we say and do might turn a child with problems round or blight them."

"Cheerful cow" said Godfrey, amicably, who had finished jotting down his tune. "Still, look at the Brewer child – denied music and by all accounts a little bitch until Severus gave her a second chance; and found out her parents didn't let her play; like my parents with me, because I couldn't be as much a star as the twins. Parents muck their kids up and it's up to us to un-muck them."

"Good job Krait's wandered off to harangue Ron about something" giggled Dimsie "Your GRAMMAR!"

"And we haven't ever heard Krait get colourful?" said Godfrey lazily. "Don't let her scare you with all this make-or-mar business, Val; hang in there and do your best, it's all any of us can ever do, and if there's a problem child it's what the staffroom is for, to pool ideas."

"Thanks" said Valerie. They weren't as stuck up as she imagined Hogwarts kids might be; mind you, Mortimer had written often and spoken of his new friends that seemed to be quite normal people, and he had not become stuck up either. Except to that snotty rent collector whom he had ticked off so beautifully when he blew in for a visit before going off to Germany to look for a school or something that he was to teach in.

"The Horrocks girl seemed quiet enough to me" she ventured.

"She has the odd idée fixe" said Dimsie "Like 'why is Professor Snape teaching if he's the world's pre-eminent potioneer' – DUR! Because he LIKES it is why and because he likes to find the few with talent! Silly little cow. Her dorm mates tolerate her with amusement; you can see it. They aren't friendly towards her. I guess having lived in dormland I notice things like that; but you watch. All the boys in the first have gelled into an unholy mass very quickly; the other four girls are friendly to each other and tolerant of Horrocks. No HARM in her you see, but something not entirely right. I expect she got at them for bad grammar or slang or untidiness; which is fine in a prefect or a grown up but NOT in a fellow weevil. We need to keep an eye on her and NOT let her smarm up to us or sneak. Because she strikes me as one who might take normal mischief as wrongdoing and get all righteous. Of course if she DOES sneak we have to act on it; but there's no harm in telling her off as a silly little girl and not very loyal to her fellows to rat them up. And do so relatively gently because I don't think she knows any better. I didn't!"

"Right, I'll remember that" said Valerie. "There IS a lot to learn – especially as I've never been to boarding school."

"Oh you'll pick that up" said Dimsie "And if you read some of the school stories we have as well – muggle ones as well as the Cassie books – that does help. I got my nickname out of a muggle school story because it followed well off Dympna. And it's new to the first as well, think on!"

Valerie nodded. They were really nice to her; accepted that she came from a different background, asked her opinion on her knowledge of that background but made no issue of it!

And term progressed without any undue upsets.

So long as one did not count Rose Hubble breaking her wand – again – and using Spellotape to mend it; with the result that her wand work had rather unexpected results. This caused a brief upset in Charms when summoning things with the spell _accio_ which – it has to be said – most of the fourth already knew for being, as AHHa readily admitted, too lazy to actually LOOK for stuff; summoning a bottle of ink, Rose managed to summon it both overhead and open, as well as upside-down. Madam Parnassus was NOT amused, but since the male members of the First Peak Marauders had thought it funny to _accio_ every fairy still in the garden did not notice that Rose's wand was broken in the ensuing mayhem and just put it down to a Hubble moment which she ticked Rose off about it, and turned to banish the fairies back outside, to their disgust and AHHa, Albert and Granville's disappointment.

In Transfiguration, the class were turning hedgehogs into pincushions; a transfiguration that Krait permitted so long as they were returned safely to normal using Naming magic to facilitate the return.

None of them were actually poor at transfigurations, though Svetlana struggled slightly; her pincushion was inert and seemed unaware though it still sported spines and the others varied from AHHa's slightly slapdash one that was a felt hedgehog with pins in through to Silvina's very competent embroidered pincushion and Albert's velvet one and Flo's patchwork offering. And Sara Barbary managed to surpass herself and produced a pincushion that had the pins arranged in the shape of a treble clef.

Rose's wand, however, had other ideas.

Her hedgehog swelled and started firing off spines, to the screams of consternation of her seat partner, Hanna-Leena, whose own effort was creditable enough.

Krait swung round and restored the hedgehog to normal with a quick flip of the hand and removed spines from Hanna-Leena; then turned to Rose.

"What WERE you thinking of, you aberrant child?" she said.

"Please, Madam Malfoy, I was TRYING to think of a pincushion" said Rose "Only my wand doesn't seem to be interpreting things very well…" she tailed off as Krait held out a silent hand for the offending wand and passed it over.

"Oh Rose" said Krait "You silly child! Haven't you LEARNED that broken wands are no good? How did you break it THIS time?"

"I was rattling it down the banisters as I ran downstairs and I sort of tripped" said Rose.

"Do I have to point out the obvious about such an activity to a big girl in the fourth?" said Krait. Rose hung her head. Krait sighed. "Rose, you'll be taking OWLs next year; I shall write to your mother for a new wand, meantime draw a school one; try the willow one with the unicorn hair core. And you may take ten reps of the Chrysogon Rufus poem 'Growing up'; the one that starts 'I'm a big boy now, I can do my buttons up, I'm a big boy and I can tie my shoes' to try to remind you that you ARE fourteen not four. And I'm keeping this travesty before you do any more damage. I thought a fictional wereknarl was bad enough from the New Marauders but an aggressive archer animal like that? Preposterous!"

It may be said that the story got about and the Muggle Marauders, who were devotees of Monty Python, declared the beast to have been Spiny Norman, and dubbed Rose 'Dinsdale' for the rest of the term.

Rose took this all in good part – as was her wont – and merely asked for some kind of an explanation.

It may be said that the explanation left her neither any wiser nor better informed and she decided to settle with the idea that it was a muggle cartoon character and leave it at that. As Randolph had gone into the daring parody on the still powerful, if gaoled, Kray brothers embedded in the sketch of the Piranha brothers she had every right to be mystified; since this was ancient history unknown to most muggle children let alone of any interest to the wizarding world who had besides their own troubles at the time in the form of Voldemort and the first wizarding war.

She found the school wand much less troublesome than her broken one; and being the property of someone else was a trifle less slapdash with it too.

The juniors meanwhile felt that Emily Grant was driving them a little hard over quidditch practice. They knew that the weather would not last; but even so, right was right, and she had no business to be more demanding than Viktor Krumm even if it might be argued that Professor Ron was a soft touch at times.

The prospective Bee Marauders proceeded to read muggle science on how clouds were made, filled a bath with cold water to sublimate it into vapour and froze it firmly with freezing charms and poked their snow cloud at Emily to cool her ardour with a personal snowstorm.

Emily was hurt and wanted to know what such a rag was in aid of.

They told her.

"And what's more you can't make us turn out for practice" said BaHH "Because it's voluntary; so if we don't like the way you run it, we give up quidditch."

"And that goes for me too" said Arbek, who may not have been a Marauder but he was a crony, and supported their action. "You come close to bullying and being a little Grindelwald to us juniors; and we reject it."

Emily was aghast; Arbrek was first team seeker, despite his youth; and if HE joined the rebellion she must really have put her foot in it! Emily was abrasive and not particularly sensitive, but she was a nice enough girl under her brusque manner and was definitely embarrassed to have caused the ire of the junior school.

"Look, I'm sorry you oiks" she said "I only wanted to see you enjoyed as much of the weather as you could while we had it. And Viktor's got us a fixture against the Innsbruck Ironbellies."

"Well if you'd only SAID that we'd have been less off about it" said Crow. "Though for those of us who only play for fun and can't give the first team a good game it's still a bit heavy."

"Like I said, I'm sorry" said Emily "Can you take this damn snowstorm away and we'll negotiate a more reasonable settlement?"

They took the snowstorm away promptly and thrashed out an agreement with the head of games.

Some of the stars of the first team had left; and though Seagh and Angelica were on hand to bolster the third team when not all its members felt like playing, they did not feel it proper to play as part of the school team since they were technically no longer schoolchildren; so Emily Grant herself and George Ingate moved up into their position as chasers, leaving the position of beaters in the adequate hands of Pete and Fred Lowther, Kate Grant as the more talented of the three chasers – she surpassed her older sister in talent – Arbrek as seeker and Victor Crabbe still as keeper.

The day of the match against Innsbruck dawned and the school team with Liriope Hallow as reserve travelled by train to meet their fixture. It was considerably warmer down in the valleys; which was nice. The air was also less thin and seemed quite heady to the team that trained on top of a mountain.

The Ironbellies were definitely a team to be taken account of; not perhaps in the top league, but certainly a match for any school team in the normal way.

And had not their team captain sneered at the concept of the school being so short of talent that they had to play a goblin the result might have been very different. Viktor Krumm was infuriated.

"You will apologise for that comment or meet me after the match" he said coldly to the captain "Such comments are not cultured and are the sort of thing I might expect from a half troll, the other half being jarvey."

The captain sneered.

"Oh I'll meet you quite happily Krumm" he said "And I'll try to be gentle on you in my pity that you had to take a job teaching sissies and little girls in a school instead of a real coaching job; you MUST have done something awful to have lost your place on the team AND not be able to get a real quidditch job."

Viktor smiled.

"Some of us" he said gently "Prefer to mould talent before it gets given bad habits; and actually I choose to teach at my future father-in-law's school. Since I too have fought Odessa alongside my quidditch career; like the great Severus Snape, my bride's father. I may not have been at the battle of Hogwarts to get the scar, potato head, but I AM a friend of Harry Potter's too. Which means I have a life; somehow I doubt you will when you're too old to play, and too stupid to realise to get out when the going is good. Very well; we have a date after the match."

Insulting their seeker was bad enough; this oik had also insulted their Coach and the Prince Peak team was NOT about to take THAT lying down. Even though one of the chasers was muttering embarrassed apologies to Arbrek.

The Lowther twins and Victor were blood group; and made a great team in the keeping out the opposing team's quaffles. As all three now broomsurfed happily – to the horrified amazement of the Ironbellies – this was an advantage too. Kate and Emily flew well together as sisters, and George was used to working with Emily; and if they were not great scorers they at least kept the opposing team's beaters and keeper busy and managed to get a few quaffles in while their opponents goggled in disbelief at their counterparts' broomnastics. The Lowther twins had been working hard on it!

And Arbrek was determined to show this racist pig of a seeker up; and flew with every trick he knew to lead the Austrian astray. And one move they practised assiduously at Prince Peak was the Wronski feint; and with the tactic suggested by Brutus Scrimgeour in his 'Beater's Bible' Arbrek felt that 'take out the seeker' was a valid tactic for any seeker to use as well. He jinked a few times as though he was chasing a snitch and dove full speed for the ground; and thrilled to see his opposite number attempting an intercept course. It required careful timing and a nice bit of broomnastics on his own part, so as not to collide with the Austrian when pulling out of the dive; but any dedicated follower of the MSHG was familiar with the Immelman turn and Arbrek also swung all the way under his broom to miss the other seeker by literally inches.

The time out for the crashed seeker was sweet.

And the racist Austrian may have remounted but he was still distinctly fuddled.

Which meant that Arbrek had a distinct advantage. Having his beaters shout,

"Red Five, bandit below at four o'clock!" was another advantage; they had code named him Luke Skywalker to play Hellibore's where an equally racist comment had put him on his mettle; and it worked so they might as well continue it. Training in muggle military parlance helped too. Arbrek did a wingover to the imaginary four on his personal clock face and below him; and there was the snitch. He dove again – and this time the Austrian seeker was not about to follow him! Arbrek stood on his broom as the snitch rose above his dive and his long, secure goblin fingers closed on it!

The team went wild.

The experience of the Innsbruck Ironbellies had brought them ahead in scoring; and before the snitch was caught the score stood at three hundred and seventy to two hundred and ninety with the school visitors down to their hosts; a hundred and fifty points made all the difference however and Prince Peak finished on four hundred and forty.

There were scouts from many teams watching and a lot of note taking was going on; and the majority of the Innsbruck team were ready to shake Arbrek ruefully by the hand.

"Wilhelm lost us that match by making you all mad" said the keeper.

"Well if your coach does not make that perfectly clear, I fancy ours will" said Arbrek. "Coach Krumm is very protective of us all. As is Professor Ron, our teacher."

"Well, you're a lucky bunch" said the keeper.

Viktor called upon the blood group to restore the offensive seeker to full health so he could duel with him without it being like shooting fish in a barrel; and proceeded to demonstrate why he was one of the foremost fighters against evil. He left Wilhelm the seeker dangling from one ankle, disarmed, giggling hysterically between vomiting slugs and with bats pouring out of his nose and uncontrolled farting noises and highly coloured effluvium issuing from his rear. Nothing so boring as the blasting curse for one trained by the MSHG.

His team were much impressed and cheered him mightily.

The Innsbruck Ironbellies had to get in a top curse breaker to get their seeker in a fit state to play their next fixture; and billed him for it, since it had been his own fault he got into that mess.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The weather broke on the way back from Innsbruck; and the school team got fairly drowned in a downpour on the way to their own rack railway and the cable car.

That the cable car emerged above the rain into brilliant sunshine almost added insult to injury; but as Victor said, at least they were so high up that they were above a lot of the weather which extended their quidditch season; and in case anyone hadn't noticed how soon the old folk of the Innsbruck team started blowing with exertion, the high mountain air did wonders for their lungs too as well as their morning runs.

"Pollyanna!" said Fred without rancour.

oOoOo

Weather did start to reach even the peak after that and the morning run became dancing in the Hall instead or a riotous game of shipwrecks, with thoughtful muffliatus spells for those who did NOT go for the early rising of the MSHG. The first had joined as a body, even Evadne Horrocks; who was not about to cut off her nose to spite her face. She was what Birgitta described as 'a little middle aged' but she cared for the rights of others passionately enough and had the sense to realise that informal training helped, and to listen to the theory behind the fitness. The boys looked upon it as their chance to help Conrad more; and as the boy relaxed, he could indeed perform better when wand work was a part of games not in a more stressful formal environment like lessons. And as part of a game of shipwrecks involved two opposing teams turning the safe havens into something like aggressive rocking horses or jelly, one had to be on the ball to cancel the spells!

oOoOo

In the bad weather the usual collection crazes started to occupy the minds of various people, with the swapping of chocolate frog cards, quidditch cards and the new dark creatures cards from the Liquorice Bat company given away with jellied dark creatures. It was AHHa who came up with the idea of animating jellied redcaps – lime and strawberry – in a war against cola-flavoured dementors. The tables got very sticky and the game was disrupted when Stripey, the school leopard jumped on the table and routed all forces with her rough tongue, purring louder, so AHHa claimed, than the chatter of machine guns.

It was only Stripey; so they sighed and did her ears and her soft tummy when she rolled over for it. Stripey more or less looked on Flo Visick as one of her favourite people so they called on Flo to lure her off to the kitchen to eat more suitable food than sweeties when doing her tummy got too arduous.

Flo left her own collection for Stripey's needs; Jade had created the leopard as her offering for the transfiguration NEWT and Flo, as self-imposed fag had taken helping to care for the big cat seriously. Her collection was not swappable anyway; Flo was busy cataloguing all the dryads and their trees she could find, and finding out all she could about their trees. This had started by taking an interest in the school dryad Fagia, and her beech tree; and Jade had mentioned in passing that a dryad going under then name Sylvia Birch attended the Rowan House annexe to Hogwarts as a day pupil, that led to Flo looking her up in Kensington Park one holiday; and it had grown from there. There were several dryads around the school and Flo had badgered indulgent prefects to walk out that way to meet, photograph, and talk to more. Flo felt protective towards dryads; they had very few if any rights in law, largely because no-one was sure whether to classify them as plants or beasts. Flo maintained that they were beings; and as they needed a being to breed with to make a new generation that proved it. As Dryads tended to keep themselves to themselves even more than centaurs, the need to battle for their rights collectively had not really arisen in light of other, more pressing needs; but certainly Flo had been told she was a good kid when discussing the subject once with Madam Granger, who was well known as an elf rights activist.

Flo's brother Fred had the more conventional sort of collection of flying quidditch figures and quidditch cards; and he and George Ingate were working on designing a game whereby you used quidditch cards to pick a dream team and enchanted non specific figures to be operated according to the stats of your team, and let them play it out. It was a complex piece of enchanting, and Severus, passing by, had suggested that both take enchanting seriously and also look into the goblin metalworking classes that would be starting in a couple of years to make goblin silver figures that would be mutable, suggesting they study an OWL alongside their NEWTs. He did not voice his thought that such ingenuity had to be something to do with the juxtaposition of such names as Fred with George.

The boys thought this an interesting idea and thanked him for his interest.

The first, on the whole, had harmless hobbies; it may have been a surprise that Germaine Oglethorpe did not collect quidditch cards or figures but little bottles – a side trip to Vienna had filled her with delight – but it was harmless enough. Fulke Blackwood liked clocks and clockwork; and was perhaps another candidate for metalwork. Solange, hardly surprising for a French girl, loved fashion and kept scrapbooks of fashion models from magazines. Evadne Horrocks collected photographs of famous wizards – a little more personal than the famous wizard cards – and had delightedly snapped all the famous witches and wizards who taught her, and went on to write careful biographies beside them in her scrapbook. Conrad Grailsquest had the most unusual hobby; muggle sleight of hand conjuring tricks, because he was skilled enough, he explained, to actually fool inquisitive and insensitive relatives into thinking he could manifest magic. Siegfried was addicted to chess, and had a number of old chess boards that had come to light in his castle, that he had exclaimed over in horror at the way they had aged, and done what he could to restore them with help from Severus. Werner Wasner, who also took an interest in Fulke's clockwork having metalworking in his background, was trying to interest people in hurley – they were permitted five-a-side softball hurley in the great hall – and Georgi Metlaev, whose other great love besides quidditch was theatre, suggested getting up a play. The others of the first thought it a great idea as a way to spend free time so long as it wasn't going to be highbrow, so they all sat down to write a play.

They decided to fictionalise the usurping of Miss Cackle's by Gerhardt and mangled the truth with enthusiasm for dramatic impact, having Gerhart being Cackle under polyjuice potion and the girls in thrall rescued by Severus Snape with a flitgun full of mandragora. There was a final battle and the storm wizards disguised as witches were revealed and routed.

The boys had great fun romping in drag as 'witches' pulling off their wigs quickly when squirted with 'mandragora' with Conrad starring as the chief villain Gerhardt because he could actually get a mask and wig off with aplomb and whilst apparently just shielding his face from the spray. Fulke was voted as typecast as Professor Snape and Werner got out his paintbox to produce some realistic looking scars as actually jinxing him was considered just a little extreme. The girls had to mill around a lot as pupils, having borrowed old uniforms out of the museum.

"Try to look like a crowd" said Georgi to the five girls.

The other four boys were wicked wizards, including Georgi who was also producer, prompt and in charge of the curtain.

They performed for the rest of the school and Georgi said severely to the laughing staff,

"It is, please, not supposed to be a farce, but a drama of the most shocking and frightening."

The staff tried hard to control their mirth after that.

"I don't think it'll make Broadway" Krait murmured to Severus as the final curtain fell – and then fell further as it became dislodged – "But it was damned funny!"

The rest of the school always enjoyed the efforts of any who had the industry to put on any performance and clapped with enthusiasm for effort if not necessarily for great art.

oOoOo

Werner had an ally in Seagh Snape over hurley; and softball games became regular occurrences, though Seagh was away rather a lot.

He had enjoyed himself visiting Teague O'Toole and meeting his fey relatives; this was a seelie band run by a chieftess who admitted that the fey were going to have to make more compromises with humans if they wanted to survive. Her lowfey were excited to hear about the chant that had freed them too of compulsion – not that many had ever felt disloyal, and nor had any left – and Seagh had felt quite easy about making diplomatic overtures and suggesting the possibility of places for fey children in Prince Peak school.

He had NOT succumbed to the blandishments of the chieftess who thought a handsome, tall half human like Seagh who seemed to be even more able than Teague – who had impressed her enough – would make a good father for her offspring.

"Dangerous lady Chieftess Deirbhile"* said Seagh to Teague.

"Sure, and isn't she as full av sex as an egg is av meat and as safe as making out in a pit full av vipers" said Teague in his own idiom.

Seagh DID extract quite a lot about fey music from his stay however, even if he did have the knowledge – and willpower, aided by the bloodgroup – to resist her drowsy and erotic songs to leave him overcome with mental lassitude without taking away the ability to perform. Seagh just LOVED the look of frustrated chagrin as he continued taking notes throughout the performance and so he reported back.

"You're a bad man, our Seagh" laughed Krait.

He bowed floridly.

"One does one's caddish best, little mother" he said.

"You've been reading the Sparhawk books again" said Krait.

"They're entertaining" said Seagh. "Anyway, you hold us all together and settle our squabbles as gently forcibly as Sephrenia. And isn't dad our own Precentor Martial like Vanion?"

Krait laughed.

"Nutter" she said.

oOoOo

And then Halloween was on them; and the competition this year for the holiday weekend was to produce puppets of appropriate images and creatures.

The first combined – again at Georgi's suggestion and with the artistic direction of Werner and technical expertise of Conrad and Fulke – to produce a set of shadow puppets thrown into relief by a lumos spell behind a screen for a short play wherein a hag captured and ate children in a colourful house – cellophane from sweeties in cut out windows was very effective – until a werewolf came and ate her. The werewolf was handled by Conrad who managed to manipulate several disparate body parts to change them a bit at a time and it was most effective. The first won a big box of chocolates for that effort!

Lucy Ingate recalled Jade and friends having made Basil the Basilisk out of socks and decided to reprise that idea with Sylvana; though their renditions of songs of the cool crested basilisk with shades were perhaps more attendant with giggles than anything else as they begged the school not to step on his blue suede tail. The rest of the second bowed to Sarah Elliot's artistic ability and made beautiful puppets with jack-o-lantern heads and exquisitely sewn clothing – courtesy of Zöe Gesler and Beta Kalinka – which danced to the music of the 'firegang' from labyrinth.

The muggle marauders came up with puppets on strings dressed as sturmzauberern; save that as they swooped on their brooms their sombre black Odessa robes rode up to reveal pink lacy bloomers.

The First Peak Marauders produced werewolves in a cup; two puppets hid inside the cone that was the cup, each on sticks so they could pop up first one then the other.

And Irmi and friends combined to make felt glove puppets of Convolvumort, Tuurd the Troll, Leaky the House elf and selected characters like Hairy Pimple, Professor Glumblebum, Professor Spurious Snake, Red Ferrety and Hermetica Grudgeblood. They had great fun putting on a battle between the forces of good and evil, with – since THEY were in the know – Professor Spurious Snake calling Convolvumort 'Master' and jinxing him whilst supposedly aiming at Hairy Pimple and apologising with a wild toss of maniacally wild hair.

It was a most excellent evening!

The feast was not to be despised either; and as others went to bed, the Bee Marauders, Angelica and Sebastian were tapped lightly on the shoulder and motioned to hold back.

And they were taken to the secret room; and another party ensued with a blooding. And Sebastian grinned at Irmi, and then was kissing her fiercely; and Angelica suddenly understood why it was these people were so close. Because now she was too; and closer to her brothers than ever.

And Hette and Vava were determined not to fall asleep afterwards even if Tarquin and Ismenia did.

They woke up next morning in their own beds whence they had been carried.

Of all the newly blooded, perhaps the most awed was Crow.

As Engelram Langstaffe he had behaved badly; had failed to understand so many things because of the snobbery of his family, lurking on the edges of society and desperate to try to rise; and consequently acting in an embarrassingly arrogant manner to seem of more consequence than they were. Crow had got his parents behaving with a little more courtesy towards their house elf since mentioning that Malfoys and the like considered it uncultured not to be polite to servants; and hoped that their social ambitions would be satisfied that he had powerful friends to the extent that one day he could break the news that he also had goblin and half goblin friends. The behaviour of the goblin boy Vilm the previous year and his rudeness to Madam Devlin and the two half goblin girls had made him so ashamed that once he had behaved almost as badly; indeed he had gone to the head to ask if he might talk to the boy rather than have him expelled to see if he could not explain. And Severus had explained – kindly and sadly – that the boy could not be reached by anyone as things stood. Crow had been shocked to be compared to Voldemort; it had been a starting point. But Vilm was unprepared to change his thinking for anyone. Severus had put a kindly hand on Crow's shoulder and thanked him for his concern; and begged him never to discard such compassion.

"But I cannot allow you, as one of my charges, to be opened to the sort of insult this boy throws around to those who er, encourage miscegenation" he said. "There's none so blind as those who WILL not see. You were ignorant only; he is more than ignorant; he is pig-ignorant, and wallows joyously in his own brand of wilful ignorance."

Crow had often wondered what had become of Vilm and if he had regretted his stupid behaviour. More likely, he told himself cynically, he is spreading stories of abominations and the wicked disregard for decent folk at that school. A shame; and one must hope it did not cause trouble in the future. Still, their own year's Arbrek had a father who was a pillar of the goblin community; and Henik, the poor goblin boy Arbrek's father was sponsoring in Vilm's stead, was a good kid.

And he, Crow HAD listened and learned; and now he was part of the forces against prejudice and evil wizards and a part of the coolest organisation ever and how wonderful was that! And Severus had said that his and BaHH's and Batty's and the Breuer girls' desire to kick against authority and question every edict before complying was a healthy thing to have, and that they would be responsible for helping to see that the Ruling Council in England and the new government in Germany did not backslide into the pusillanimous and vacillating mental flatulence of the previous Ministry-run government.

Crow loved Severus' turns of phrase – at least when they were not directed at him! Madam Burke for potions this year was by way of a rest cure, though that did NOT mean he should slack, just because her bawlings out were less wordy and entertaining.

She HAD forgiven them for playing cricket in the potions dungeon with a horned toad as a ball and the massive stirrer from the big cauldron as a bat; because she was mad on cricket herself. She merely set them an impot of a brief essay discussing the more outlandish terms used in cricket.

Even muggles not interested in the game apparently found some of the terms bizarre; but then, what other game could boast a fielding position of 'silly mid off'?

Madam Malfoy increased the blood group by another one a week or so later by producing Cornelius Albus Ronald; and teased Professor Ron that his name had been added for the baby's tuft of red hair.

Ron grinned.

He had also just been told by Percy that he was to be an uncle again; Harmony was pregnant and blooming happily. Ron was happy to be the father of just the two, Penelope and Sirius Harry; but he had been glad to share out the labour pains for Krait with the others. And if Krait wanted a long family, well she was the one who had to go through the whole messy business. Ron did not think he could survive the stress of Hermione having any more and was glad she too was content to stop at one of each!

His mum was pleased she had managed two babies anyway; and she would be pleased with Percy and Harmony as Harmony wanted a long family like her sister-in-law Ginny. And this first one was to be named Fabian if it was a boy or Fabiola if it was a girl after one of Molly's brothers who had been killed against Voldemort first time round, and that had really pleased Molly when Harmony sent her an owl with the news.

There had been two more infant additions to the blood group recently.

Lynx had produced her second baby just after term started, another girl; to be named Felice Ariel, and Lynx explaining that Ariel was Hebrew for lion before anyone could say it wasn't in the cat theme of names they were using for their daughters. Ron did not really care what outlandish naming system people picked so long as their kids grew up happy.

And Sephara had presented Neville with a son, whom they were naming Frank Harry. So they had one of each too.

The one to worry about was Senagra, who was expecting in February or March because she was petite, even as goblins went; but then, Romulus was slight and the Blood Group would see them through. It had been a revelation to see the faces of the new ones though as Krait went into labour!

Yrdl had been through it before and had explained; and told them that they might stand aside from it. And staunch little warriors that they were they had hung in there!

Cornelius was, as Krait explained to the school, named after an ancestor of hers, Cornelius Slytherin; who was the last of his line since the last to bear the name was his daughter.

Charlotte had made a second portrait of Cornelius to hang in Severus' office; and his namesake had been duly introduced before he was shown to the school.

The hard faced heir of Slytherin had become quite soft and moved.

Phineas Nigellus had made snide comments about Krait breeding like a brood mare of course; and James Potter had called him names and Severus had to ban them from invading each other's frames for fisticuffs of an unseemly nature as Krait was quite capable of holding her own with Phineas Nigellus.

"Quite" said Krait "He can't help being jealous that he never had the equipment to make babies and that his own wife never actually noticed that he was making them on her because he was so boring she dozed off in the middle of his best efforts."

Phineas Nigellus spluttered.

oOoOo

The Yule Ball was to be the next excitement for the upper forms, though of no interest whatsoever to the junior school or third years.

This meant that the First Peak Marauders and their class were obliged to go; and they quickly sorted themselves out. Julian invited Silvina because she could be trusted not to lose rhythm; Albert and Granville claimed that twins should go with twins, and invited Sandalla and Svetlana; which left AHHa moaning that the twins had stolen an unfair march in getting the only female marauders and promptly invited Rose Hubble AND Hanna-Leena Tommila.

As Fred took his sister's friend Vya and Flo went with Fred's friend George, that left only Sara Barbary and Kate Grant. Who were promptly asked by the Lowther twins as being more sensible than any of the girls in their year. Rory and Randolph shrugged and tossed for which would invite Muriel and which would ask Prudence, who were not TOO bad, Muriel at least belonging to the MSHG. There were still more girls than boys in the upper forms.

Victor considered asking Irmi as his deputy but it was really a no brainer that she would be going with Sebastian; and Victor wished them well. He invited Emily Grant on the principle that she was head of games and rather inclined to scare most boys. Helga would go with Ulrich; though Victor knew she was writing darling-I-miss-you letters to Stoyan Krumm who was in the upper sixth at Hogwarts. Even as Darryl was writing to Mimi in similar vein but probably more imaginatively and with greater literary competence. Darryl asked Victor's advice.

"I dance well enough; anyone you think would enjoy the ball for being asked?"

"Lily Smethley" said Victor.

Darryl nodded and invited the shy prefect.

Gaius Paddock invited Elsie Blackwood; two intellectuals would find more to talk about than having four left feet between them. That exhausted the list of boys of the upper sixth and left only two more in the lower. And Adrian Petrescu and Yukya Kalinka were NOT about to be caught by the Tugwood twins. Adrian hastily asked Elsie Willis, the swot of the upper sixth and Yukya picked Evangeline Chaunter, the last girl of his own year, who was not about to make a fuss about dancing with an elf. Milos Milic, the last male of the fifth hastily asked Leneli Accola, who could go on a bit but was at least a member of the MSHG and was settling – finally – to the fact that nobody turned a hair about her being half goblin, except a boy who got expelled for it.

As males outnumbered females in the post NEWT classes, they were to hold themselves in readiness to dance with any bereft looking female as a willing sacrifice for their education, as Severus put it.

"Ah'm no' dancin' wi' the Tugwoods for a' the education in the worrrld" said Seagh "Ah've had ma fill o' darrk crreatures."

Severus cuffed him.

"You'll do as I tell you" he said.

"Yes father" said Seagh, in resignation.

"Oh we'll dance with the Tugwoods" said Nils "We're used to daft girls. And we'll dance with the others too of course."

"Thanks" said Severus. "One hopes they MIGHT be starting to grow out of it; we shall see when I run Amortentia next term."

Seagh got cuffed again for falling to his knees to murmur a curse breaking prayer of little value but great popularity in the Voldemort years.

Of more moment to Conrad Grailsquest than any silly ball was the moment when, in Madam Parnassus' charms class he absently managed to make his eggcup perform a perfectly adequate cartwheel because he was busy dwelling upon how well the shadow puppets had gone and was considering if he had the skill to make puppets do cartwheels on the ends of their sticks.

Dione kissed him on the cheek in enthusiasm and he flushed but grinned all across his face.

"I don't even want to know what mischief you were planning that enabled that" Dione said "But I wish it every success!"

Conrad grinned.

"I was only thinking about puppets" he said.

"Conrad, if you'd like to cut puppets and use locomotor charms to move them, I'm happy for you to make that a project to hone your skills" said Dione.

Conrad brightened.

"May I? THANK you Madam Parnassus!"

"And what's more you can practice colour changing on cellophane that you use as part of your puppets" added Dione. "To add to your effect."

Conrad beamed. That was an excellent idea!

Dione was delighted. He may never get far with charms – but at least he had proved to himself, which was the most important hurdle, that he could perform magic. And with belief in himself that ought to make him perform better in classes that required magical ability, though it was doubtful he would improve much in Arithmancy where magical skill was immaterial. And yet…. And yet, if he had a belief in himself, a better self image, he might yet pick up in all things. She had done so after all!

oOoOo

The rest of the first felt it a shame to waste Conrad's developing talents and pass up a possible jape; and having told Evadne to dry up and not be a poor prune for saying that playing jokes was not nice, set to in the intention of working out if they could produce some kind of Brockenbow apparition by projecting puppet shadows. With some practice, they determined that they could put a mass _lumos_ charm on a quaffle and use it to project shadows onto drawn curtains.

The wild hunt – with more imagination than accuracy – was cut out with much giggling, and the first proceeded to sneak out onto the battlements to scare the sixth in their studies.

As there were those of the sixth who knew something of the wild hunt, having heard stories from Seagh, the deception caused all the mayhem the conspirators might have hoped and curtains and windows were flung open and lights dowsed to give defending prefects a bit more chance not to be night blind. This was the point at which the first let fly with banshee wails played on comb and paper – which idea Birgitta had got out of the Dimsie books – and like the original made the more uncanny by the odd ghostly whimper which was Solange giggling into her instrument.

They hared back inside and were found to be looking innocent when Victor and Irmi came to check on the smallest.

So innocent did they look that several knuts dropped.

"My office, first thing" said Victor to the boys; and relayed the same order to the girls via Irmi.

oOoOo

"We didn't bring Evadne because she refused to be in on it" explained Germaine as the girls trooped in.

It was a squeeze.

"Did you care to explain?" asked Victor.

"Well, Crabbe, it was because we wanted to celebrate Conrad finding his magic" said Siegfried "And we thought that it might scare younger people for real so we fixed on doing it to you older people."

"Well I like your sense of common sense over that decision anyway" said Victor "With a few delicate kiddies in the school it might have led to some nasty nightmares rather that the collective shout 'oh DAMN the fey' which was our general reaction. How did you make the noises? Had you kidnapped Celestina Warbeck or something?"

They giggled.

"Comb and paper" said Birgitta "Hilary and co do it in 'Dimsie'. I bet Madam Burke would have known, which is why we didn't try to spook the staff."

"The trouble some of the staff have had with the fey you might have stopped lethal spells first and been called on for explanations after" said Victor "Most of them went to Hogwarts you know, or have taught there; and after they killed Voldemort they had some trouble with the wild hunt. Stole our Seagh from them as it happens; he's adopted by Professor Snape by blood ritual to keep him safe from them. Still, no harm done; but you know I can't actually let it pass. I was tempted to set you 'Tam Lin' as a single long rep, but with small people out of their beds in the middle of a cold night I think it'd be more salutary for you to report to the potion dungeon after school and brew a dose of pepperup potion each as a prophylactic against possible pestilence as a result of your perfidy" he was particularly pleased with this Snapish burst of alliteration and smiled at them in what Fulke described as 'quite fiendish glee'.

The first accepted it with due philosophy; they had fully anticipated being caught at some point and had been quite surprised to actually get back to bed safely. Besides, it was not a terribly long potion to brew and was – to their minds – a less arduous impot than copying out long poems.

Victor then went to ask permission to use the dungeon as a Head Boy's detention, and told Severus the whole off the record. Severus laughed.

"Well that's a very appropriate detention; and I have to say of an originality worthy of David Fraser in his time!" he chuckled.

"Well greater praise you cannot give" said Victor, flushing "I recall being very respectful of David Fraser when I was a weevil and a wart. I – I guess I wish I'd gone off the rails then and done something that brought him or you down on me back then so I'd not have lost a year and not got in worse trouble later – and maybe have found out about Walter being cursed earlier. Only I respected him and you too much to misbehave" he added honestly.

Severus sighed.

"I have always maintained that your problems were in part at least my fault for not seeing more" he said. "And by having to leave for the poor little mutts here. At least you ARE back on track – more than back on track – and able to look out for the same. As for Walter, frankly I doubt as a wart you'd have been able to tell us any more than that he was a spoiled brat and the favourite; and we've come across families who hold one child a favourite before. It was being in school that revealed his extraordinary deficiencies. And I'm hearing from Lilith that he's hooked up with the youngest group of would-be marauders too."

Victor beamed.

"Yes, isn't that wonderful news?" he said "He's friends with Seth Dumbledore and a wild selection including – of all people – Chrysogon Rufus, who's not such a spoiled baby as one might have thought. They managed by HIS experiences to find out that another first year, Niobe Cooper, was under the influence of a monster-child curse; in a dolly. Seems the Cooper kids have a really nasty uncle and he wanted to disrupt the family."

Severus nodded; he had heard the same from other sources.

"And that, really, is what being marauders is about" he said "Fighting evil in any way they can; and by having a wide range of stories and experiences to share that they can draw parallels from. If Walter is a Marauder you won't ever have to worry about him again."

"No; and that's so much a relief to the mind" said Victor. "And I kind of pity our parents; by smothering him and pushing me away they've lost both of us because Walter spoke to me about how they wanted to just FORGET all the bad things that happened, not let him talk about it; and I don't think even now they fully understand the excesses of his bad behaviour poor brat. And he'll now be able to look to Marauders first, so he doesn't have to turn to his parents because we'll be more your children then theirs, Sev; and whilst we get to be the winners out of that, I can't help feeling sorry for them that they've so alienated both their children."

Severus sighed.

"I am the gainer in having you as a foster son – and if Walter feels that way too, so be it" he said. "But you are right; and may I say how impressed I am by your compassion that you CAN pity them for their stupidity. Perhaps in time they will come to realise that even their favourite draws back from them; and will want to learn why. Take that cynical look off your face, my boy; I have to TRY to hope for a general reduction in wilful imbecility in the human race."

Victor grinned. How like Severus to make a back-handed comment like that!

It may be said that the first did not much enjoy, but neither did they really detest their detention; and swallowed their doses of Pepperup potion dutifully; and Conrad was so delighted with his return of ability that even he managed a reasonable potion that was only faintly muddy and was, as Victor determined with his wand, at least largely likely to be efficacious!

_* pronounced Djairveela [meaning daughter-poet]_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Silvina was happy.

She had music; she was learning so much from Professor Goodchild, learning how to make the tunes that came into her head into music. She knew enough now to write them down, and Professor Goodchild had presented her with a muggle-made exercise book of manuscript paper and told her to jot down any ideas, however short or unfinished because she could always take them and finish them another time. Recording them as they occurred to her was what was important. Professor Goodchild admitted to being awed by the ability to write music; he was a virtuoso performer but though he could teach her how to improve what she had written, he did not have the original ideas. And Silvina had learned enough to respect him for admitting to not being able to do something.

He COULD show his class how to use a musical instrument as an alternative to a wand; and told them that one day they would progress to using their voices or whistling to do the same thing. The patterns created by music, performed with magical will behind them, could be a focus in the same way that a wand was a focus. Music was to be enjoyed for its own sake; but their education was to include magic in music, which was how it was to differ from muggle music lessons.

The knowledge that muggles produced manuscript books and played music was a revelation to Silvina; she had very little idea of the capabilities of muggles and had been shocked to find out that Godfrey had been trained by a muggle who had a relative at Hogwarts because he had been picked by Lucius Malfoy on musical skill over magical ability. But then, Silvina acknowledged, she was ignorant about many things; largely because her parents were narrow, ignorant people who had kept their children narrow and ignorant.

Professor Goodchild had problems with his parents too; and jealous older siblings. He had cut most of his ties with his family. And Silvina was suddenly curious about what had occurred over the letter she had left when she placed herself into Professor Snape's care.

She ran to his office and knocked on the door.

"Herein!" he called in the Austrian fashion they followed.

Silvina entered.

"Silvina?" said the Head "Have a seat; what can I do for you?"

Silvina dropped the obligatory curtsey and sat down, hands clenched in her lap.

"I just wondered what happened about the letter I left for my parents; whether you had any trouble over it" she said "I – I've been so busy finding music and catching up that I guess I just forgot my parents."

Severus regarded her wryly.

"Poor sad creatures that they are that you can" he said. "Well, my dear, I'm afraid they took as much notice of you; they did nothing to find you and took no action. Draco dropped in after a couple of months to see why, claiming to have had a copy of the letter sent to the Auror's office – I had passed the information on and registered your desire to be a ward of your school as I am legally obliged to do – and I am afraid they had already decided that if you did not want their home, you were no daughter of theirs. Draco asked if they did not want their younger daughter checked out in case her aberrant behaviour was due to a curse; they claimed there was nothing wrong with her and that you lied. Draco got irritable at that point and pointed out that children could not lie under legilimensy; he knows I have used legilimensy on you, my child, to see the extent of Celestina's nastiness. They refused all help for her; and refused to acknowledge you so I fear they have failed both their daughters."

"What's going to happen? Is SHE coming here? I – I don't think I could bear that sir!" cried Silvina, suddenly panicking.

"Oh I shan't have her" said Severus "AND I've passed on warnings to Dumbledore – and Professor Fraser who'll be the new head of Hogwarts next September when she would have been to start – and Hellibore now he's co-ed; and Madam Maxime of Beauxbatons and Madame Bacsó of Durmstrang; and indeed to Neville Longbottom of the free school. The worst they have there is sneak thieves and pickpockets, I doubt they'll care to lower the tone of the place. That's better" as Silvina giggled. "I hesitated to pass on the rejection until YOU wanted to know. They have been induced by Draco to formally disown you, leaving you free for adoption at any time you should wish it. I haven't offered it myself as you'd be only one of a large number of siblings; and because I am extremely demanding of my own children and expect them to devote themselves to fighting dark wizards and evil generally and to put such before their own wishes."

"I can't put anything in front of music; now it's come out I can't force it back" said Silvina honestly. "But – but even if you don't feel I'm good enough to adopt, I'd like to do all I can to support what you do; it's all I can do to say 'thank you' for all you've done for me."

"It isn't a question of not being good enough to adopt" said Severus harshly "Put THAT idea out of your head! Merely that you would be only one of many; and I would, to avoid favouritism, be harder on you than others in the class. I would put your needs behind those of those unrelated to me; because I expect my children to learn to stand on their own feet. One's family is an extension of oneself; one puts others first. I have no wish to be unfair to you by that."

"I guess I'd give almost anything to have a dad like you" said Silvina.

"Do you really know what we do?" said Severus softly "You are old enough to understand. If you were my child I would expect you to be part of the blooded; those of us who initially made the blood pact to help Harry bring in others to support the fight against dark magic; and all our children are born a part of it. My adopted children are all part of the pact – though I only asked Tarquin and Ismenia this year if they were ready. It involves sharing blood to share a part of each other in a way too profound to describe in words. It gives much; but it also means you are irrevocably tied to the rest of us. I need you to think deeply before you consider going that route; and I want you to read my book 'Blood Magic, Love Magic' about the rituals we did for Harry; when you have read it, think hard. And if you still wish to proceed to become my daughter we shall see about bringing you in. And you may be more comfortable as my ward; the Ingates always have been. Harmony Bloom Weasley wanted to join, without adoption; and she waited until her last year in school. We who are blooded are ALL family; but some are closer than others. You can talk to Julian about it; he is blooded as a Marauder and a warrior against evil whilst having a perfectly good family of his own. Svetlana was blooded in by Sandalla – which was when we brought all that bunch of marauders in because Sandalla went ahead on her own – because Svetlana, though she has fey blood, was a muggle who was picked as a double of Sandalla to be tortured in her stead to force Sandalla's father into obeying Odessa. We rescued them both and Sandalla decided that her orphan double should have a chance to do magic. The blood sharing has given magic to Svetlana. And we ticked off Sandalla royally for jumping the gun on that, I can tell you!" he added.

"It – it's very powerful, isn't it?" said Silvina, awed.

"It is; and joining to get power is NOT the right reason" said Severus. "To be helped over a handicap, to be given support and to give support; those are the reasons that are acceptable. It is essentially a sharing. Now go read the book" he handed a copy to Silvina "And cogitate most deeply. We shall speak more on the subject after the end of term."

Silvina got up to curtsey and leave.

Professor Snape did not lie; he was afraid she wasn't strong enough to cope, she thought.

Was she? That was something she had to find out inside herself. Perhaps she wasn't. She would read the book and ask Julian about what Marauders did. He did not seem to think she need be a Marauder; but they were honorary family for what they did or something.

Silvina managed with a flash of unwonted insight to realise that Professor Snape was more concerned about her feeling that she had failed him than whether she was not so strong as some of his other children. She could never be like Jade who had spied in Durmstrang. It was all very difficult!

But now she had music she could be a stronger person. And though Jade and Seagh were undoubtedly musical – and Professor Snape himself and Madam Malfoy were too – it was something she could bring to them and share. And if Professor Snape did not think it important he would not have placed such emphasis on the skill in his school.

She took herself off to do some serious reading.

It would be wonderful to have someone to belong to; but whether she proved she was strong enough or not, she was still happier than she could have ever imagined and she would not let this dilemma disturb that!

oOoOo

Victor was pondering over the arrangements for the Yule Ball, the decorations traditionally a job for the Head Boy or Girl. A rather recent tradition, but it had been so at Hogwarts and had continued here. He decided to ask for the aid of the musicians of the castle, and make the ball a celebration of magical music to commemorate the inauguration of its teaching. He would get in exotic flowers of the types given at Christmas and ask to have them enchanted as the music for the ball; amaryllis for horn music and the delicate bells of hyacinth to ring in accompaniment; dried grasses as a whispering percussion and gourds as shakers. It would be a bright and almost tropical scene; a defiance of midwinter rather than an acceptance.

The musicians were enthusiastic and soon Victor was hearing ideas about Big Band sounds for dancing to; and was content. It would be gay and colourful and if not as original as some offerings should be pleasing, he thought, and at least not as pedestrian as some of the balls at Hogwarts he had heard about! And nice smoochy numbers like 'Moon River' should go down well. It would not suit Emily, as his partner, of course; but then Emily danced with military precision and energy and the concept that there should be any artistry or even enjoyment attached to something that was good for you had somehow passed her by. Emily would probably prefer a Yule Quidditch match.

Well she would quickstep well enough to 'Hello Dolly' or similar and they might then leave it at that; as Head Boy he really ought to dance with all the sixth and with a bit of luck Krait would give him a dance too, because she was really very good and a pleasure to dance with. And she and Severus looked so good when they danced together! He grinned suddenly, thinking of the other female Professors and thought that Madam Granger danced with the same determined precision that Emily did, even when using it for ritual.

If he pulled a bit of ritual himself so the floor was also enchanted, musical notes might float up as feet touched it, in a rather esoteric twist on the fluorescent fart jinx. He could manage that easily! Sort of reverse snow.

oOoOo

"Victor, can you cast the cruciatus curse?" asked Silvina.

Victor stared.

"In principle I know how. It's a forbidden curse kiddy, or hadn't you checked what unforgivable means lately?"

Silvina flushed.

"Well I know some of you bigger people in the MSHG do stuff that's kind of forbidden to learn counters. And I think I might be able to work a counter only I can't unless I know what it's like, can I?"

Victor whistled.

"You'd do better to ask Sev about that" he said.

"I want it as a surprise for him" said Silvina.

"Here, you're not being dippily romantic are you?" demanded Victor "He already has three wives, that's quite enough!"

Silvina stared in surprise.

"Oh no!" she said "Why he's too old to be romantic about! I want to convince him that I'm worthy to be his adopted daughter!"

"Well kid, I should think wanting to be was enough; knowing that he does stand into danger. Oh, you want to convince him that you CAN stand in harm's way taking the curse to come up with a counter?"

"It wasn't really that; more that if I can do something useful I shall be strong, not a freeloader who just wants a decent daddy" said Silvina.

"Silvina, Grace Snape Malfoy is strong by being THERE for her Draco; Sev adopted her to protect her initially because she is such a gentle little thing; her strength is in her ability to love fiercely. If you have an idea, I'll willingly help develop it but I don't think I ought to be chucking unforgivable curses without the say so of one of the staff. And I'm next door to being Sev's son – he's my father figure – because like you I have rather limited parents."

"It's in music; you don't do music" said Silvina "Only I trust you."

Victor grinned.

"A nice compliment – though asking someone to break the law egregiously is less of one. Ask Seagh; he's less scrupulous than I am AND he's musical."

Silvina brightened and went to talk to the hawk-nosed half fey.

He listened.

"I'll teach you the damn curse as well" he said "You need to know its form. Are you looking to base the tune on midwifery charms turned into music? I have some scores too of Finnish music used in childbirth."

"I hadn't thought of it; is it really that painful then? I thought it was natural."

Seagh gave a wolfish grin.

"Natural it might be but it still hurts like hell – as those of us who've been blood-joined to pregnant women can assure you" he said "If you want to be my sister, y'do ken fine that you'd be blooded?"

Silvina nodded.

"And if I can do this it'll then help with childbirth perhaps" she said. "Why is it so painful?"

"Because of two things in our evolution from monkeys" said Seagh "Oh, didn't you know we developed from apes? 'cos we did. And it's still a moot point over whether the fey drew on a form established as sentient or whether they made us by poking apes as the cleverest beasts around to try to get some substance. And the two things are, standing on two legs – which puts a strain on the spine – and having got so smart we have heads that are almost too big to be born. House elves have heads that squish all long as they're born – and it still kills plenty of the puir sleekit wee bastards – but they have a fey mutability that human skulls can't cope with. All right; let's look at the scores first and see what you can do with the midwifery charms. Dad prefers to rely on potions or chanting; the subtle arts. But music is a subtle art too. If you can pull this off you'll deserve fame."

"I don't want fame; I want a family" said Silvina.

Seagh brushed her face with a hand.

"I'd say if you're prepared to try an extra curricular bit of research you were born half Snape already" he said. "Hang on, I can put the cruciatus curse on you with one hand and a pain relieving charm with the other; then I'll write out their respective formulae."

Silvina clenched her teeth and nodded.

The pain was excruciating and she fell to her knees, trying not to scream, feeling the scream escape; then the pain moderated. And then it stopped.

Seagh picked her up and dumped her on the sofa in his study and summoned a cup of tea.

"Drink this" he said.

Silvina did so.

"Too sweet" she said.

"I prescribed extra sugar for shock" said Seagh. "And Ah'll no' do that again tae a wee nipper like you" he added in a thickened accent for the stress.

"I don't really WANT it again" said Silvina "Though we shall have to test the tune."

"Yes, but it you cast it on me another time I KNOW I can take it" said Seagh. "You did good; did you note how the pain relief charm alleviates? That's enough for most medical conditions, but the cruciatus curse resonates directly in the pain centre" he hesitated "There are two clusters of nerves in the brain, one for pleasure and one for pain. They're quite close. Sometimes that can get a little connected; it leads to all sorts of sexual aberration. Voldemort invented a pleasure curse to use WITH the cruciatus curse to – well, let's just say to exert an unusually cruel control on someone. It's not a pain caused by just hurting you but by the centre of feeling pain. That's why blocking the spell works but negating it never totally has. And cast often enough and for long enough at a time it can cause insanity though it does no physical damage. If you want to negate that you need to come up with a tune to vibrate with and effectively switch off the pain centre. Which has its own danger."

"I don't understand that" said Silvina.

"Well, if you are not actually feeling pain because you've switched off the pain centre you could stick your hand in the fire until it burned to a stump without noticing; or walk over glass cutting your feet into ribbons; or bleed to death because you haven't noticed a wound" said Seagh. "I'm just thinking of the negative applications that my fey connections would be like to find amusing; getting a servant to do such things while the music played and wondering that they felt no pain then stopping the tune to laugh themselves silly as the shock hit their victim. I have a dark side from that blood; that I must aye fight against. But it tells me how it could be used."

Silvina stared in horror.

"So – should I NOT go ahead?"

"Oh yes!" said Seagh "Just be aware that the best things can be usurped for ill purpose. A muggle who wanted to produce cheap electricity came up with an invention that was turned into a weapon that is the most fearsome the world has ever known; that has no magical counter. It makes electricity too, but muggle governments are no different than wizarding ones so if it is cheap, the profits find their ways into someone else's pockets rather than being passed on to the public. If you can stop pain at its source you can stop badly damaged people dying of shock, once there's a healer to stop them bleeding too much. Do you want to do it all alone or shall I help?"

Silvina flushed.

"I WANT to do it all alone; but I don't think I'm actually good enough at the Arithmancy side" she said "I've got quite good but….. well, if you'd help…."

"That's a level of maturity you've gained" said Seagh. "Reckon your instincts will start you on the tune; and the Arithmancy will be a refinement. And I'll tell you right off to try to figure in twenty three; it has particular significance for the makeup of the human – and goblin and elf – body. Maybe a repeat in twenty three bars" he suggested. "And you could add counterpoint to refine the effect. Though if anyone is desperately humming or whistling it to counter effects that's not much help" he added thoughtfully. "Actually, there's more to twenty three than just tying it to people," he went on in excitement, "because I recall Lilith holding forth that it's the mass of a chemical called sodium, which makes up loads of stuff in the body, including being necessary in the passing of neural messages – and what is the cruciatus curse but a passing of extreme neural messages? If you could use twenty three to BLOCK sodium to the pain centre that might help too!"

"I can see I need to work hard" said Silvina "But that's a grand idea – it needs a subtle timing and counterpoint on a twenty-three bar repeat, one to tie it to the body and one to counter this sodium."

"A problem if someone's trying to hold a tune though" said Seagh.

"I was kind of thinking that if anyone anticipated encountering it – if they're an auror say – it might be possible to enchant an earpiece that – that could be started to play it or that had some kind of automatic condition to play" said Silvina.

"Hmm, better something implanted; that's not such a bad idea at that" said Seagh "Or better yet, enchant the ruddy ear to play the tune if there's pain, tied to a compulsion that recognises pain. Mind, that's a refinement for the far future; you have to get your tune first; and see if a simple harmony is enough or if it needs contrapuntal variation. I reckon it may well do. Here's the scores; I'll copy them out for you, I only have these one copies of them. Take the formulae for now and bash out the Arithmancy on them and then I'll refine that with you. Feeling better now?"

"Yes thanks Seagh. And thank you for your time."

"Glad to give it on a worth while project. WHY by the way did you think you have to prove yourself to Dad?"

"I got the feeling he felt I wasn't strong enough to cope" said Silvina "And – and that he was reluctant to have yet another adoptive child."

Seagh grinned.

"Well we are rather ubiquitous!" he said "You'd do better to spend time getting to know the little ones better you know; if THEY accept you, that's far more important because if you're our sister you're their sister too and a big one to run to. Being able to actually list them is enough of a challenge! He doubtless feels that you might not get much of him as a father, being spread as he is a bit like butter spread over too much bread; it'll be for your sake he demurs, my girl, not any desire for you to prove yourself. Dad takes every kid who passes through his hands personally – which is why he gets so upset when he has to expel anyone and why he jumped at having you back when you'd learned to heed his lessons – and he gets easily hurt because of that. But it means he tries hard to think of the welfare of each and every one. And I know him so well because there's enough of him that's like me to know that he hopes you'd not be disappointed and expect a huge amount of attention all the time. We get love from dad and the mums and all our siblings; but he's no' verra demonstrative, though he's good for cuddles when you need them. No spoiling or anything like that; just the ability to drop in to his study and be companionable and knowing that he's there to talk to any time. Like he TRIES to be for all the school; only you can't help but take it more personally when it's family. He says with a hand on the shoulder what it takes a lot of fathers big sloppy kisses and demonstrative hugs to say. And it's easy for people to interpret that as uncaring and cold. I expect too he's afraid you'd think that and feel let down again."

Silvina stared.

"Oh!" she said. "But – but it won't do any harm to try to prove I can do good stuff?"

"Ye shilpit wee sumpf ye can do good stuff as well himsel' kens!" said Seagh lapsing back into his vernacular "Wis not yer first piece ye played last year juist the promise of it? This is extra – but dinnae dae it tae prove tae the man that ye can, dae it tae prove t' yersel' and because it's a guid thing tae dae!" he gave a rueful smile "I'm not going to convince you kiddy; I felt every day when I was first with the family that I either needed to prove I was worthy of such a wonderful family or that I had to kick off to see if they rejected me before I got so settled that rejection would hurt the more. I was only ten mind" he added "And more used to kicks than jam. Have you done your ordinary homework?"

"Most of it" said Silvina.

"Horrid child! Run and do the rest of it before you look at this crap; and give me time to copy scores too!" said Seagh "Hoppit!"

Silvina hopped.

Seagh could be intimidating but he was very kind really.

It would be awfully difficult; she had known that she had no concept of how bad the cruciatus curse really was, but even so it had been worse than she could ever have imagined. And it if hit where you FEEL pain in your brain that would explain it. So she had to hit that with the tune.

Well it WAS worth trying; and if she only got so far with it, clever people like Seagh and Professor Snape could finish it off and get it right if she could only have a harmony to build on!

And that came easily to her; setting up a rhythm in her head based on the spells they were to copy the effects of, to hang an appropriate tune on, circus type music for locomotor charms, and – most difficult to date – two themes intertwined, one dominant at first then a segue into the other with canon overlaying it to effect a transfiguration. It took more effort to turn a beetle into a button with music but that they had established that one could do it in principle was a triumph. Professor Goodchild was not sure it could be done; and Silvina had been the only one to manage! Which was bizarre because she had trouble with transfigurations in the common way.

The Cruciatus Curse was nothing but a charm however; it made an object – the brain – behave in a way that was unusual, it did not change anything.

It might be wise to play around with countering laughing charms and sneezing curses first; they too made the brain believe that you needed to laugh or sneeze.

Doing all this original research was going to be rather good fun!

But she HAD better do her Ancient Runes homework first, however easy going Professor Maxime might be!

oOoOo

With end of term exams the first had no real time to get into any more mischief; and weekends were well regulated with dancing in the hall for all the school or quidditch and flying when the weather lay below the horn of the mountain. Severus was pleased that he was able to write fairly good reports about all the new ones; though sighing a little over Evadne – he had heard unofficially all about the shadow fey and her non participation – and writing that Evadne might enjoy herself more if she could try to join in more with her own age group rather than being convinced that she was a junior staff member, and that though her heart was in the right place she seemed a little unable to lighten up and enjoy harmless mischief.

He had no report to write for Siegfried; the poor child had not had any relatives for hundreds of years. Severus was half considering adopting him – if it were only fair when he already had so many children. He was half hoping that the lad might form a bond with the Grindlers or the Nachtigalls; both families having also been werewolves before the cure. The boy got on well with all his fellows; if there was any special friend however it seemed to be Conrad, for Siegfried was a kind youth and had taken especial pains with Conrad to help bring him on. Not that the rest had not done their utmost too; but Siegfried seemed to have particularly attached himself to Conrad and got on well with him. Well Conrad was an only child; perhaps that would lead to a home for Siegfried.

And how splendid it was to write that Conrad was coming on well, and had manifested magic demonstrably and reproducibly and that this was in the course of mischief in no way diminished his pleasure as headmaster in the reporting of it, especially as he did not officially know about the incident.

It WAS nice not having any real adverse criticism to write! Of course some were less able in certain classes than others; Germaine and Solange were poor at Arithmancy as was Conrad; Solange was scarcely numerate and got in a terrible muddle over bases. He wrote on both girls' reports as he did on Conrad's that he would be arranging them remedial Arithmancy next term with another teacher in the hopes that a different approach might help to overcome the points over which they struggled. Krait was less abrasive than Hermione and less likely to be intimidating to those already behind. He sympathised with Hermione; he was less abrasive himself these days than when he was so acutely unhappy before Krait had come into his life, but even so he felt occasionally like turning the more dunderheaded of his pupils into horned toads and did not always refrain from snapping a sarcastic comment at them. It was easier to deal with the amusing incidents – Rose Hubble's wit-sharpening potion that had solidified sullenly into the shape of a brain that was trying to become a cauliflower that had then exploded in multicoloured gobbets for example – than with the entirely and unregenerately dire. And Hermione never did have much of a sense of humour and had needed to be worked on to laugh at Kate Grant's determined calculation of the rate of flow of water from an average wand at two thirds the speed of light. Hermione had finally written on THAT effort 'if the water flowed that fast it would be an effective weapon and would probably kill the caster for draining his life force; see me.'

'See me' was an intimidating sort of thing to get on a piece of homework from Madam Granger!

oOoOo

The post NEWT students were required to write a personal self assessment on how they were keeping to their study plan as well as receiving Severus' own written critique. And he was pleased with them all.

They had been learning about complex chanting as a part of ritual; and indeed studying ritual as a whole. Those who had studied high level Arithmancy had learned to calculate things like the optimal number of wizards to use in a particular ritual; but had never actually studied ritual itself. It was another of those things generally taught by rote on the job. Severus did NOT teach by rote; he taught theory and its practical application ruthlessly and Ron, dropping in on a lesson had asked how come he made something as simple as opening a gate so damnably complex and arithmantic.

Severus laughed.

"Simple to you, Ron, because you've been doing it since you were fourteen; at which point the Arithmancy was really a superfluity since you had demonstrated that you had the instinctive ability. I'd fail a post NEWT class if I did not give them the theory too; and it would be a waste not to apply all those lovely figures Hermione crunched after you and Harry sloped off to share a bag of chocolate frogs. Do be aware that you lot were doing ritual seriously on Harry's behalf far younger than ever it had been done before and before you remind me that half my preschool brats do it too, they just pick it up as they go along. And any one of those who are over seven is probably more capable than nine out of ten of the ministry."

"Crumbs Sev mate, that's devastatingly insulting!" said Ron "What have your kids done to be so insulted?"

Severus laughed and Gibbsed him.

His high level students had been told a few stories of what the Young Marauders had got up to; and were determined to try to be as good!

They also had a lot better idea of some of the more unpleasant things available through the Dark Arts – advanced Dark Arts was a course Severus wanted them to cover to give them some protection – and were determined to have as many tools as possible at their disposal to counter the same.

oOoOo

The Yule Ball was a light relief to end the term; and the Tugwood twins duly giggled at the Broomstick Boys. Nils and Crys bore it manfully. They danced with other girls too and fans like Emily were much gratified.

The décor was a success and so was the music, and the musicians were much congratulated. Even the youngest musicians had been included – and were permitted to stay up long enough to hear what it sounded like all put together – which were Siegfried and Solange.

It went with a swing; and if there were less waltzes than for some years, rumbas and foxtrots were slow smoochy numbers and those who did not know the steps made them up as they went along.

And Professors Snape and Malfoy, quickstepping to 'Jeepers creepers' was reckoned to be the best piece of exhibition dance any of them had ever seen, even though Professor Devlin said it was a shame Professor Fraser had never really mastered the quickstep because it took a dog to do the leg-cocking in the corner move.

Her husband poked her for that.

And then it was the holidays and children departed at full volume for their Yule holiday.


	8. Chapter 8

****_Thanks rhidragon! I do like to include a few cultural references! [And btb, I am working desultorily on a story for Sparhawk]  
_

**Chapter 8**

The private quarters of the headmaster at Prince Peak were cosy, opening off the Head's study. Silvina sat on the floor by the fire with a mug of cocoa while Severus disposed his long body in an armchair that was better described as comfortable than elegant. This room, a combination sitting-room and library, was lined with books and the sofa showed signs of having had school leopard claws being sharpened on it, a habit that Severus had been at pains to break before Stripey got too big.

"I wondered – and I'm not hurrying you – if you had read enough to make any decisions" said Severus.

Silvina flushed.

"I know enough to know I want to be your daughter but I haven't got very far with the proof that I'm worthy" she said "Because I didn't think it was right to neglect my schoolwork on it."

"Well that at least shows a modicum of common sense" said Severus "But what is this nonsense about proof? All that is required is that you be prepared to put up with the negative aspects of being my daughter – the frequent danger, the fact that I have to give my attention fairly and equally around many. And that I should require you to be blood bonded so I can protect you – for as my daughter you would be a potential hostage. Just because Odessa is finished in GERMANY does not mean it is defeated fully; the Russian branch continues. And there are more evils in the world than Odessa; and though perhaps I might like a rest from fighting dark wizards I am aware that I have become sufficiently used to the danger to be unable to resist leaping in with both feet where others fear to tread. A fault my family has to cope with" he added.

"I should think people in danger that you rescue don't count it a fault" said Silvina. "And I accept the danger; after all, those of us who've been at school here have all seen danger close enough to realise what I'm talking myself into. It's a fair trade to have a dad I can be proud of – and special family who'll be there for me. I – I guess if you have other people to love, so will I, and other people who might learn to love me back."

"Ah! Then if you understand the peculiar Arithmancy of love, that the more you divide it, the more it multiplies, you are indeed ready" said Severus. "You started off very selfish; not surprising. And when you are trying to find yourself, you have, of necessity to be somewhat self centred. You have found yourself and are prepared to give what you have found; and is that not the greatest and most profound truth to be found in the world? I will see about the formalities of adoption; will you change your surname?"

"Of COURSE I will daddy!" said Silvina and flung herself on him.

Severus cuddled her.

"Now what's all this about proofs you daft article?" he asked.

Silvina told him about her plan to write a tune to counteract the cruciatus curse.

Severus nodded thoughtfully as she spoke.

"Music can be very powerful" he said "And if you've started work with Seagh you're certainly picking a good ally; he IS part fey after all. I would suggest for the best results that you put the idea before all the musical of the post NEWT students and fit in some classes with them to develop it; because many heads are better than one, even as many of us combined to counter the Killing Curse, especially after Draco came up with the brilliant _avocado kadavra_ that has become a corridor curse but has the same arithmantic form as _avada kedavra_. It took us a year round to come up with full protection, though the mirroring charm was a quickly found stopgap. Actually it took almost ten years for the protection spell against the killing curse to be thoroughly perfected; based on research of some marauders in Hogwarts last year, headed by Lilith. And, my dear, you need to accept and not be jealous that Lilith is an exceptional little girl – to be cuffed as much as any when she's being a nuisance of course, but she is gifted beyond measure and that's just the way it is."

"I should think anyone would be PROUD to be her sister – because she has no side to her" said Silvina. "And I don't have to be jealous because I have my music and though she plays better than me, I make music."

"Yes; and everyone has their talents" said Severus "For some, the talent is to be lovable. Like Harry Potter. Harry was no great shakes in any class; he is still virtually innumerate and his theory is decidedly dodgy. He had to work like stink to get the five NEWTs required to be an auror. He has a degree of raw power – that took nearly six years of training to enable him to actually channel it properly – but his main talent is in making people like him. Not by so-called 'charm' which Tom Riddle had in abundance; but by being a nice kid who went out of his way to help people. He is the Chosen One partly because Voldemort chose him to be his nemesis; and partly because people want to go out of their way to help him. Sorry, paraphrasing part of what I wrote in the book."

"I guess it's important that everyone is an individual" said Silvina "Do you think those grown ups will want to work on a project a kid has started?"

"if they don't want to work on a project as ambitious as any I've ever seen that could be a great force for good then they're morons and don't deserve my pearls of wisdom" growled Severus. "And isn't Seagh already enthusiastic? Volodya certainly will be too; HE has taken the cruciatus curse as part of discipline in Durmstrang where the most powerful of the older ones delighted in throwing it at youngsters to make them comply. And THAT is changing too. But do not be disappointed if the thing requires many years of work on it; because the best things in life need work. When we discovered that House Elves are tied to a form of Imperious Curse to make them self punish it took about three years research to come up with a ritual to break it – with many of us pursuing different lines of enquiry. I was studying the curse breaking aspect – I am an excellent curse breaker – and Lucius Malfoy looked into the fey aspect, suspecting that it was a fey ritual to begin with. He was right. It led to him being a willing sacrifice, offering twelve drops of his living heart's blood while the rest of us chanted for eight hours solid. And Silvina! We're planning to do it again next solstice – in a year from tomorrow – to do the same to the elves of Europe as far as the Urals. And if you are not one of the chanters, I'll expect you to be there to feed power to us through the blood link and then help re-hydrate us afterwards and mop up our sweat and urine soaked bodies. Heavy ritual may sound glamorous but for those who do it the aftermath is decidedly sordid."

Silvina stared.

"Not STOPPING chanting for eight hours? You must be even more amazing than I realised! And – and not stopping for anything?"

"Not stopping for anything" said Severus "Water squirted in our mouths between phrases was the best we could do; I'm going to look into a fluid replenishing potion fed in via the veins, like we inject werewolves in the veins. Muggles re-hydrate that way so I don't see why we shouldn't. Then we'll be less ill from it. It half killed us last time; but it was worth it to know that no elf that has been to England has to punish themselves for disloyal thoughts. That will start to give them the desire to be free and lead to them being less subservient. As the elves who go to school are not subservient."

Silvina nodded. She had come a long way and was now quite friendly with Vya, the elf in her class.

"I – I guess I'd not thought about it" she said soberly "But if the tune helps too with labour pains, well I've read a bit more about that and I suppose anyone playing to ease it would have to play for hours on end too. Because it seems to me that live music, produced through a thinking person, would be better than any enchantment; though an enchantment should help if the tune is inherently magical."

"You're thinking it through very clearly" said Severus. "And I will ask Jade to look in on you too; I believe Jade is close to surpassing me in the skill of chanting AND she uses music extensively instead of voice. In which case I'd like you to work with her and Seagh on another project in addition – to see if we can't add a layer of music to the chant for the elf freeing to make it easier."

"Oh, what a good idea!" said Silvina. "How wonderful it is to be part of a family and to DO things with a family!"

Severus laughed.

"You MAY feel a little different after playing for eight hours and oh blast!" he added "We have to actually figure in several time zones too; it may be a twelve hour chant requiring people changing in and out. The shortest day has eight hours sunlight – in England's latitude – but running down to Spain and Italy that comes close to the tropics; AND we cover different times for dawn and dusk from France in the west and the Urals in the east. I'm going to be busy cracking numbers all year."

"If I can help with the music I shall" said Silvina "I'm not much of an arithmancer."

"You're better than many my dear" said Severus "Certainly good enough for most purposes. And good enough to know when you might be beat; and THAT is a talent in itself. Fortunately I have at my disposal some of the best arithmancers available. Now run along and tell Sevnev he may come and explain to me exactly what he did to his sisters' underwear that left them ready to scrag him."

Silvina grinned.

"I AM glad I'm not a parent!" she said with feeling and went to fetch small Severus Neville who was waiting in awful anticipation of his father's wrath; which was probably to be the greater part of his punishment. And at that possibly preferable than having the fertile imaginations of his sisters let loose on him.

And she was to be Silvina Snape and even having her knickers treated with itching powder by small brothers was to be taken in her stride as not being done with the malice with which Celestina had played tricks on her!

oOoOo

Seven year old Severus had red hair and glittering black eyes.

"Is Daddy awfully waxy, Silvina?" he asked.

"Well now Severus Neville Snape, how would you feel if anyone else did anything to your sisters?" said Silvina. Sevnev's face fell.

"Oh REALLY waxy" he said.

"Yes and if I'D caught you at it I'd make you have itching powder in your pants for a whole morning and see how you like it" said Silvina severely.

"Cor, you're as bad as Jade!" said Sevnev "I say, you didn't make any recommendations to daddy did you?"

"Certainly not; it's not my business. You never touched me" said Silvina.

"Oh well with luck I'll get off with a spanking and having to apologise" said Sevnev brightly.

He was the delicate one; finally getting stronger but certainly surreptitiously protected; NOT that this made it likely that he was going to get away with his mischief! And the only ones he had targeted had been Ismenia, Iris and Draxana, ranging in age from a year and a half older than him – Iris – to nearly two years younger – Draxana – without touching the younger ones. And at that, being the only boy in that age range he might well have had some provocation. Iris was very nearly as bossy as her mother Sirri at times!

oOoOo

Severus, feeling that there was no time like the present, brought Silvina in on the group as soon as they were back in London for Christmas, with such of the quorum as were also there. And the formalities were swiftly attended to, and Silvina went Christmas shopping with her family as Silvina Snape, and likewise attended a show that was a pantomime loosely based on the story of Babbity Rabbit and her cackling stump, from the stories of Beadle the Bard; except that the script contained all kinds of references to modern politics and any scandals that there were. Characters NOT from the original story strode across the stage in outrageous interludes including Loosearse Madboy – a direct steal from Draco's name for Lucius in his Convolvumort sketches – fleeing from a new lover who he had planned to make his wife until he found out that SHE was a HE. The line 'Loosearse, oh Loosearse, come to my arms and widen the circle of your friends!' fortunately passed the children by, but made Severus splutter rather. That Loosearse was also fleeing from the season's beauty Morganatica Feykin was a little close to the knuckle too; Morgana Fairchild, who had left Prince Peak three summers previously had made a determined beeline for Lucius on more than one occasion. Jade had joined the family for this show and rocked with laughter when Loosearse demanded of Morganatica if she would sleep with a man for a fine apartment, emeralds and a flying carriage; to which she had cooed an affirmative; then asked if she would sleep with a man for five sickles. 'Loosearse WHAT sort of woman do you think I am?' demanded Morganatica outraged. 'Oh we already established that" said Loosearse 'We were just haggling over the price!'.

"Got HER number" said Jade in satisfaction. "I say just LOOK at Uncle Lucius – he's going to wet himself if he laughs much more!"

Apart from the adult asides there was plenty of slapstick for the children of the normal kind, with such gags as an attempt to summon water with the _aguamenti_ spell that seemed to fail, until the wizard casting it peered at the end of his wand and got the stream of water in his eye – a nice piece of wordless casting that brought applause from the knowledgeable as well as laughter from the little ones. Button mushrooms around the cackling stump got turned into beetles with the comment that they needed to roam free because there's not mushroom around here; and Babbity Rabbit outwitted all those who meant her harm and dispensed pithy advice; and all was well that ended well.

They stopped off to eat at one of a new chain of wizarding restaurants, to check it out as much as for any other reason since Krait had invested in the chain of 'Very Little Chef' restaurants, run by a cartel of freed house elves, including those freed as a punishment from Belcher and Goodtime that had been discovered by the Malfoy twins when Mr Goodtime was in a foul mood after having to feed huge numbers of goblin children under the aegis of Lucius Malfoy and one of the elves had ventured that they seemed nice children. Being good cooks the next step had seemed almost inevitable and Wendy and Krait had proceeded to take it. The food was to be cheap-and-cheerful but good quality; and the family was pleased to find that this seemed indeed to be so for such a spot inspection. As the elves running it and cooking were all share holders they had incentives to do it well; but Krait knew well enough that elves found it hard sometimes to operate without supervision. Beloc also owned shares and, being well versed in the hotel trade, called in from time to time to do what he called judicious buttock-prodding, which was like, he explained, kicking ass only scaled appropriately down.

Silvina enjoyed the meal, chuckling chicken balls with fries and bouncing peas. The chicken carried on chuckling until totally chewed and the peas bounced all the way down. It was an unashamedly children's meal; but she was eating with the other children, and Lilith cheerfully batting bouncing peas into everyone else's mouths with her knife as they jumped up off the plate. Lilith had grinned cheerfully at Silvina and welcomed her to the family; Lilith could be a complex little being in so many ways but in some respects she regarded life with remarkable simplicity. If mums and dad thought Silvina was a good sister, she was a good sister; and if she loved them they would love her.

Lilith was full of news from Hogwarts, how they had been invaded by a Jarvey that could almost outswear Peeves and how Robert Spikenard had caused the crap that had been written about Darryl in the 'Daily Prophet' because Gryffindors never knew when to keep their stupid mouths shut – here Lydia poked her – and that was why he wrote in to accuse them of fantasy mongering; How they had used Chrysogon Rufus' mother's poem to fill the great hall with teddy bears; and how Niobe Cooper had a dark wizard for an uncle and how she and sundry others were going to muggleify him.

"What on earth is that?" asked Silvina.

Lilith grinned.

"We get him onto various muggle organisations' lists of people to send advertising to; so he's knee deep in ads for breast implants and thermal vests and prosthetic devices and incontinence pants and things" she said. "It's a nuisance tactic. But I know how to manipulate the muggle world."

"DO be careful" said Severus mildly, knowing fine well it was no point actually banning Lilith from being involved.

oOoOo

It led to tears; Lilith and her Cooper friends had managed to bring Buckley Cooper to the notice of the muggle police – Silvina was not sure exactly how – and a policeman had been killed with the killing curse. Severus looked into the matter and was able to find out that he was a man who attacked first and worried about consequences after, and had suffered therefore from those consequences. But it was something Lilith had to cope with – that actions of hers had led to a death.

Silvina was among those dispensing reassuring hugs to Lilith as Mimi had gone to be with Darryl in Austria, still avoiding reporters and Lydia was spending time with her Viktor Krumm, skiing with him, his brother and sister, and Helga Von Strang who was gone on Stoyan Krumm. It was not Lilith's FAULT; but Severus pointed out to her gently that all actions had a knock-on effect and that she should perhaps be more judicious in muggleifying people in the future and stick to relatively harmless things like subscriptions to 'Gay News' rather than fitting them up for terrorist activities.

And before they knew where they were they were off back to school again; Lilith to help protect the young Coopers as all Marauders must in Hogwarts and Silvina back to Austria.

oOoOo

Victor stood outside the railway platform to check on anyone who was returning by rail; it was after all the job of the head boy. Various of his charges arrived without too much mishap – Rose Hubble's overstuffed trunk scarcely counting.

He was approached by a scholarly looking ghost in the academic robes of the sixteenth century.

"Prithee young sir, is it indeed true that the castle of the Horn is no longer the preserve of that woman and her female so-called students but returned to a place of proper learning?"

"If you mean Prince Peak, sir, it is now taking boys as well as girls and teaching to a reasonable academic level" said Victor, refraining from pointing out that the ghost was unlikely to have offspring hoping to enter.

"It still takes girls? What nonsense is this? Women should brew potions in the kitchen, not addle their incapable heads with learning!" said the ghost.

"Actually" said Victor sweetly "Some of the top arithmancers in the world are women; and while you're about to get outraged, we also, according to modern custom, take goblins and free elves, so either er, be dead with that or go bust a ghostly gut somewhere else."

"Preposterous! How DARE you boy! Do you have any idea who I am?" demanded the ghost.

"You're the chap I'm about to tickle with the ghost-tickling spell if you don't stop being unwontedly aggressive at me" said Victor "A spell invented by a little girl by the way" he added sweetly.

The ghost advanced menacingly.

"_insubstantio titilandum_" said Victor.

Watching a dignified and self-important ghost squealing, wriggling and giggling was most rewarding.

Victor held the spell long enough to make his point.

"And NOW sirrah" he said "Let us start over where you accord due respect to ALL the pupils of Prince Peak and I ask you politely what your business is there."

The ghost scowled.

"I am Zalmoxes Von Finsternacht" said the ghost "Noted wizard, sage and alchemist. I was seized treacherously and stoned to death by a mob. I returned to my family's castle and dwelled there until such time as that wretched female and her silly girls had me banished and kept out! You have no right to keep me from my family home!"

"Actually" said Victor "The headmaster, if he felt like it, would have every right; as the place is his by right of conquest from the supremacists who held the children in subjection, briefly, having killed the unfortunate Miss Cackle, who may have been a silly old moo but who did not deserve to be murdered. If you want to haunt the place, I suggest you apply to the headmaster, Professor Severus Snape, who will negotiate with you your rights and responsibilities; because one thing he'll want to ban is you haunting girls' dormitories. He had regretted that the Cackle had got rid of all the ghosts. I should think if she put up any exclusion zones they disappeared with her death; she wasn't very good. Don't try to irritate Severus Snape; he eats Dark Wizards for breakfast and his line of chanting is beyond what most people can even comprehend. He has devised ritual to return ghostly children to their own bones and he is probably the greatest potioneer that has ever lived. Don't say I haven't warned you."

oOoOo

Severus regarded Zalmoxes Von Finsternacht levelly.

"I will NOT punish my head boy for doing his duty" he said flatly "His duty of care to the others extends to protecting them from insult and from being frightened. If you want to haunt this castle you will do so on MY terms; because otherwise I shall stuff you through the veil."

"You – that is a ritual beyond any but a group of powerful wizards!" said Von Finsternacht.

Severus gave a thin smile.

"But then, I am blood-bonded to a group of powerful witches and wizards" said he. "Having revived blood magic. Though I fancy with a good chant I could do it alone even so; it merely requires an understanding of the profound nature of the process of death and the way to rip the veil. It is what the muggle ritual of bell, book and candle attempts to do – which is why it so painful for the ghost involved since it is not successful – and that ritual I also know and understand. You are arrogant; and you have little cause for you have but a thin half-life of ghosthood having been afraid to embrace death."

"What do YOU know of embracing death?" spat the ghost.

Severus gave another thin smile.

"More than you can possibly imagine" he said. "There are reasons for failing to accept the veil; but none for setting yourself up as any kind of uberbeing. You are a ghost; your duty is to haunt. And to protect your old home. You will be, if you haunt here, bound by the needs of the rightful headmaster and the pupils and you will do your utmost in that cause. You will haunt but not actively harm; and you will NOT go into those places that females sleep. Do I make myself pellucidly clear?"

"I'm not sure I want to be around females that call themselves scholars!" grumbled the ghost.

"Call themselves? Most of them are. Yes, I have a few totty headed idiots; but I also have a pupil who has asked to take the cruciatus curse to understand its nature while she develops a counter to it; an exciting counter that I believe has every chance of working. And though the shield charm is best to prevent it causing the pain in the first place a counter could help those who cannot hold a shield charm. You will learn by observation to lose your prejudices, Freiherr, or you can decide you do not like it here and leave forthwith; and as you are a scholar yourself, if you stay I suggest we refer to you as a ghost name as the Grey Scholar. I also suggest that you do NOT upset our other resident ghost Merope; she is my wife's grandmother and my wife is quite likely to get….harsh…. if her little grandmamma is upset. It was she who developed the transfigurational ability to be able to touch ghosts directly when she was still a schoolgirl herself; she also owns the resurrection stone of the Peverells by right of birth and could use it to send you the other way through the veil far more easily than I could. Oh, and incidentally, when I taught at Hogwarts school, I discovered that ghosts are NOT immune to the glare of a basilisk; and as Salazar Slytherin's heir, Krait – my wife – can transfigure into a basilisk. Now, are you ready to meet me half way?"

"I suppose so" said the Grey Scholar ungraciously.

"Unbreakable vow?" suggested Severus brightly "Or will your honour suffice?"

"I will give my word of honour" said the Grey Scholar, unwilling to risk saying that making an unbreakable vow with a ghost was impossible. If they could TOUCH ghosts….. certainly they had a spell to – how horrible it had been – TICKLE ghosts so one had to believe that they could touch too….. and if he truly DID understand the ritual to send one beyond the veil… still it was worth restrictions to be home again. "You don't object to my presence in the library?"

"Not at all" said Severus "I'll see if I can find some dog eared copies of books to ritually burn for your perusal; I think that's the easiest way to make them available to you."

"Thank you" said Finsternacht not too ungraciously. It would be nice to have something to read!

oOoOo

The Grey Scholar was duly presented to the body of the school when they returned; to be greeted with reactions from the little shriek of terror from Amy Tugwood – which earned her a scathing look of contempt from more than the Grey Scholar – to the exclamation 'COOL!' from BaHH.

"Huh, he looks too much like those nasty old men on the statue in whichever Swiss town it was that we saw them in, the Calvinist ones" said Batty. "Or like Professor Snape when you've skimped homework with toothache AND having sat on his wand."

"Professor Snape would NEVER sit on his wand" giggled Yrdl "He has far too much respect for wand protocol as well as not wanting to sever anything vital!"

"Well you know what I mean" said Batty.

"You mean he looks like he disapproves of everything all the time" said Yrdl "Perhaps that's why he's a ghost; he died of apoplexy because someone had a new idea in his hearing and never realised he was dead because it would mean doing something he couldn't control."

Finsternacht glared at her. Stupid comments by females were bad enough, when the female in question was nothing but a goblin, who behaved as an equal towards humans it was almost too much! But he had promised himself he would not even SPEAK to these wretched females!

oOoOo

The Grey Scholar was much taken aback when drifting around eavesdropping to hear Irmi Luytens explaining to Sebastian Cantripp with much Arithmancy how to become an animagus. The idea of female animagi was not something he approved of; and he almost had a fit when Irmi mentioned casually to Sebastian that wolf had seemed so right after Severus had cured her of being a werewolf.

A CURE!

And calling the head by his first name?

And he let WEREWOLVES in?

The bookish baron was not sure which of those things shocked him the most. He barged deliberately through the next female he saw, a petite blonde female who looked the size of a twelve year old though developed well enough.

Krait cuffed him across the back of the head with two insubstantial fingers.

"Manners to a professor, Freiherr" she said crisply.

The Grey Scholar took himself off to sulk in the library.

oOoOo

Severus prepared to teach Amortentia.

He had eight in his potions class; a reasonable number. He would return from the next year to his usual high standard of only permitting those with 'O' grade OWL take the exam unless they could talk very fast. In the lower sixth of those taking potions only those who had an 'O' grade WERE taking it, except Emily Grant who only had four subjects at 'E' or above so he had not been too unhappy to let her take potions as a third NEWT. Emily was no scholar; most of her ten OWLs were 'A' grade, and she had taken them purely to be with her friend Elsie. At least she had not the idiocy to copy Elsie's academic ambitions of eight NEWTs.

The upper sixth were still infected with Cackleness however and that would have to be addressed when dealing with love potions. Especially with the Tugwood twins.

He sighed and began.

"You stand on the verge of being potioneers. If you have listened to me and studied assiduously, when you finish with school in a few short months you should be capable of brewing any potion with some competency. The question I need you to ponder, however, is, should you? Just because you CAN brew a potion, is it always valid and moral to do so? Some potions carry with them moral and ethical questions to their use; such as Felix Felicis, which is a banned substance in competition, exam or political election. We considered its use fighting Voldemort on the other hand nearer to being vital. We won; and we did not lose anyone. But some people learn to rely on Felix; until they cannot cope without it, and at that point they are taking so much that they are killing themselves with slow poison. We shall look at Felix in more detail another day however; and you may consider this an intimation that reading up about it will not displease me. Today we look at a potion that is so insidious that I should like to see it made a controlled substance; though it too has its uses. Can anyone tell me what this potion is?"

Victor raised his hand and so did Amy Tugwood and Lily Smethley.

"Miss Smethley; good to see your hand up" said Severus "Can you tell me what this is?"

Lily blushed violently.

"It is Amortentia; the most powerful love potion in the world" she said.

"I guess you'd need it" murmured Ellen Tugwood snidely.

"Miss Tugwood that was an uncalled for comment and remarkably childish" said Severus "You may return me thirty reps of 'when I was a child I thought as a child I spoke as a child but now I am grown I have set aside childish things'. In the hopes that you actually might set aside childishness some time before you reach thirty." He added snidely.

Ellen flushed.

Lily looked grateful.

Severus went on,

"I do hope that none of you have ever broken the strict school rule not to use this sort of stuff; it is banned for several very good reasons. Mr Crabbe, perhaps you will expand upon my words."

"It's not a love potion" said Victor who had heard Severus on the subject more than once "It's an infatuation potion that alters the mental state of the unfortunate recipient to admire in some respects the one who administered it despite their permanently unfortunate mental state to be sad enough to use it. It does not make for true love. It is subject to some legal jurisdiction in that sexual intercourse undertaken under its influence is considered unlawful seduction and liable to at best a fine, at worst a custodial sentence – which please take note if any of you girls did NOT know that – and can blight the life of the poor sap fed it if they then make a fool of themselves over the object of their artificial desire – I beg your pardon sir?" as Severus murmured something.

"I merely commented that one of the Malfoy twins coined the phrase 'potion paramour'; I liked the phrase and but repeated it" said Severus "My apologies for the interruption Mr Crabbe; do please go on."

"Potion Paramour? That is rather good" said Victor "The potion paramour has herself no true love for the object of her desires because true love does not seek to control, and if using a potion to control thoughts and feelings is not control, then I don't know what is. She is a selfish piece who would do better to make herself likeable by getting a life and sharing hobbies rather than by trying to poison some poor git into submission and I do wish you ruddy twins wouldn't giggle like a pair of eleven year olds who've just discovered that boys are built differently to girls."

"A graphic if unflattering description of the actions of your classmates" said Severus. "That covers most of it. The potion is NOT a love potion as Mr Crabbe has said. It is however a NEWT level potion that contains techniques of a tricky nature suitable to test you with; and it may too be used medicinally in a case where a woman or indeed a man may have lost desire through post natal depression or menopause or other hormonal disturbance or internal problems. It might also be used mutually and consensually by a couple to enhance any experience; that is entirely their business and if you twins cannot manage to refrain from giggling I shall throw you out of my class; and you are neither of you taking so many NEWTs that you can really afford to lose one" he added wrathfully.

The twins subsided at THAT awful threat.

Severus set them to brew Liberamore Major as the counter to Amortentia and retired to behind his desk while they calmed down until it was time to prowl about to see how they were doing.

He wondered too if Lily Smethley had blushed so much just because she was shy or if she intended to try to use a love potion because she was too shy to make any other declaration. And how irritating it was not to have Jade around to find out!

He asked Lily to help him tidy up and motioned to Victor to stand at the doorway as a chaperone.

"Miss Smethley, I hope you have not used one of these potions?" he asked quietly but bluntly. Lily blushed again violently.

"No sir, and I shan't now I know more about them!" she said "I – well I did wonder….." she glanced at Victor "If I could make someone interested in me."

Severus smiled kindly.

"There's no better aphrodisiac than working together and sharing interests" he said "When you find a young man who can speak about such things that interest you enough that you forget to be shy to join in the conversation, then you will have found your true heart's desire. I too am shy, Lily; and it took me a while. But I can offer advice that will, I hope, mean that you find your true love before I managed it. But even if you have to wait many years, do not give up hope! And always be true to yourself – never give in to the temptation to use a false infatuation."

"No sir, I shan't; and thank you sir" said Lily. One forgot how KIND he could be when he was bawling out the likes of the Tugwood twins; who were daft enough that they ended up getting bawled out by Professor Snape most lessons!

Lily was a happier girl and Victor wandered back to the common room with her to field any questions of the ubiquitous and tactless twins, so they though that Lily had been dallying with him.

Lily sighed. Victor was so kind too! If only he might notice her…. But then Victor did not seem to notice seriously any of the girls; he was too serious about his schoolwork!

Victor was serious about his schoolwork; and also mindful that he was charismatic to the opposite sex and that this could cause a whole heap of trouble. He had no intention of playing around with anyone!


	9. Chapter 9

****_Thanks again rhidragon!  
_

**Chapter 9**

Severus anticipated that once the Grey Scholar had found his way back to the castle, so too would other ghosts over the next few years. And spirits were all part of the experience of wizarding life and really an indication of a place of power; and as such almost necessary.

Having such spirits as poltergeists was less pleasant.

The poltergeist that moved in wore medieval jester's garb only faintly more outrageous and started throwing things almost immediately.

The children were horrified.

Severus sighed and summoned the whole school.

"Those of you who know others at Hogwarts have doubtless heard of Peeves; who comes with the castle, as Professor Dumbledore has been heard to say. Peeves is an exceptionally sophisticated poltergeist; for that is what this manifestation of mischief is. Poltergeists are attracted to teenage children, especially those of wizarding potential; for one to find a concentration of wizarding children is almost inevitable. The term is from the German, Poltern, to rumble or make a noise, and Geist, a spirit. They are spirits of ordinal chaos and are often thought to spring spontaneously from the chaotic thoughts of the adolescent. Others believe that they are more insubstantial than usual fey who can maintain an existence by feeding on strong emotions especially of the juvenile kind, being mentally not entirely well developed. Der Spassmacher as we must call this entity is NOT attached to this castle. We can offer him refuge with conditions attached or I can banish him. I will give you all twenty-four hours and call for a secret ballot on the subject. I will not have my pupils upset if you feel having a jesting poltergeist around is unreasonable; though he too is a natural manifestation of the wizarding world and might learn to grow as Peeves has done."

The wilder spirits among the boys naturally thought the idea of a rude poltergeist was cool, even if the most of them missed most of the German insults he shouted. The older girls were frankly appalled.

The vote was very close; there were those who did not much like the idea but thought it a shame to throw him out, especially as they had every expectation that Professor Snape could control him. The vote to let him stay was one of just a few more votes then those to cast him out.

Severus decided to interpret that by giving Spassmacher a trial period.

He ordered the poltergeist down from the ceiling where he was dropping water pellets.

"Yah, can't make me" said that wight. He had less physical substance than Peeves and felt this gave him safety.

Severus smiled, waved a hand to produce insubstantial bindings out of fey space and placed a collar and lead on Spassmacher.

The poltergeist was drawn firmly towards the headmaster.

"Actually, yes I CAN make you" said Severus. "We have dubbed you Spassmacher unless you have another name; and the pupils have agreed to give you a year to prove that you can cut japes and enjoy their antics without making a serious nuisance of yourself. And that requires a bond-oath. Ah, I see that DOES mean something; I thought you were of the fey. You shall swear a bond-oath that you will not go into any sleeping rooms; that you will not interfere with lessons; and that you will not cause a disruption during exams. Pestering examiners outside of exam time does not count in that; if they can't cope with a ruddy poltergeist by the time they're on an examining board they deserve all they can get. Your bond-oath will also be to refrain from using the more sexually explicit terms and insults; and to leave alone entirely those of the children here who are below school age. If any of my more talented offspring start anything you may retaliate" he added. "On these conditions you may stay for the next year and a day at least; and if you are a merry enough jester we shall keep you."

"You are in sooth most ill advised, Headmaster" boomed the Grey Scholar.

"Possibly; I am also inclined to feel that all beings have their place, poltergeists as much as ghosts" said Severus. "If he displeases you, walk through him; Peeves of Hogwarts dislikes that of all things."

"I will of good behaviour be" said Spassmacher hastily.

"Yes; you have less substance than Peeves; it will disrupt you most painfully" said Severus. "You swear the bond-oath as I have stated it?"

"I swear" said Spassmacher.

The Grey Scholar snorted; but the decision was made and Severus made a careful note on his forward planner to the year and a day, at which time the bond-oath must either be made permanent or Spassmacher must be cast out.

The poltergeist was rapidly shortened to 'Spass' and the children became used to him playing his jests out of lessons. Prefects went quietly round groups of pupils with advice not to encourage him by taking a whole lot of notice of the disruption; since attention only made poltergeists worse, and presently he would settle down to a lower level of nuisance.

It was hard; but the older ones at least worked on it. Irmi Luytens indeed carried on talking without pause when a water bomb landed on her, absently – and it is to be said wordlessly and wandlessly – casting a drying charm.

She was no fun!

oOoOo

Silvina Snape was no fun either.

She might not have progressed to the Elf King's Tune – which Seagh was still researching – to cause uncontrollable dancing even after the tune finished; but she had learned enough to make the poltergeist dance to her direction while she was still playing. And being a fey tune based on the song of the Veeli, twisted by a human to be fey affecting, it had an effect on Spass without making the human children do more than twitch a bit and tap their feet. Seagh had put his head together with the other musicians of any experience to change the dancing curse to target Spass as soon as the spirit had moved in; Seagh WAS fey and reared as such; and he could have told learned theorists on the origins of poltergeists exactly where they came from. As he said to Severus.

Severus laughed.

"I guessed he was fey; I should have asked you!" he said "I don't really believe in a 'spontaneously generated malevolent intellect born of the negative aspects of adolescence' as I believe Armando Dippet described Peeves in one of his more rambling learned works. Or rather, not very learned works. Poor old Dippet was a great philosophic magician but a lousy teacher; and hence a lousy writer, being unable to add a cogency to the subtle fancies of his brain between beautiful idea and the poetry of the written word."

"That sounds like you're mangling Edgar Allan Poe again dad" said Seagh. Severus grinned.

"Somewhat; perhaps I'm leading to 'quoth the Dippet nevermore'" he said. "Sorry I did not think to check with you – silly of me."

"Well I might not have met any" said Seagh "And indeed I have not; but in feyspace I can SEE his essential fey nature and its tie to that reality and the more tenuous connection to us here. Your use of the medium he thinks of as his alone has impressed him most tremendously; he's wondering whether to view you as an implacable foe or to fawn on you as a highfey lord. If you speak to him with kindness but aloofness I think you'd win the puir sleekit creature to personal loyalty."

"Thanks Seagh; I'll do that" said Severus. "And as well to keep him aware that there are those of us who can perform fey magic. The music was clever."

"Silvina asked if music could affect what spells might not as he was not fully substantial" said Seagh "She's blossomed since she became our sister; even more than finding her music pleases others. Spells CAN affect him of course; but he has some resistance, being partly in feyspace. But music is easier for those not yet knowledgeable about how to manipulate fey magic. Reckon music might be almost as powerful as chanting by the time we've finished chasing up all its ramifications. I'm off to Russia by the way; I skanked an invitation to a Russian fey rath, or whatever they call them in parts foreign. And Stripes Khan wants me to take notes as well, because all he knows about the Russian fey is that they call House Elves and lowfey Domovoi, and they have Pogrebin, and their brand of water nymph is called the Rusalka."

"The range of fey is I imagine the same as any range of fey only with different local nomenclature" said Severus. "And in common with every other fey an inordinate number of nymphs and such female forms to lure mortal men to increase the solidity of offspring by their seed. And like fey anywhere as likely to kill the sperm donor as not."

Seagh laughed.

"And it's aye that I'll no' let these wifies near ma' privates" he said. "I may be half fey but I've still vigour that they'd jump at; they can just SMELL the power of the bloodgroup. And some of the groups I've talked to – I've travelled as a bard, so sacred – have hinted hard enough that if I'd care to lead them on a crusade against wizards and muggles they'd follow me!"

"I take it you're not tempted" said Severus.

"Whisht! Wha' for wud I care fer sich baubles?" said Seagh. "I'm human more than fey anyhow. Their ragged glamour disgusts me. They could have at least dignity and fair enough garb if they stirred themselves to weave, and eat better if they but cared to farm; but though it is the way of house elves to labour and to be happy in their industry it is the fey nature to idle and play rather than turn a hand to improve their lot. Bunch o' juveniles" he added scornfully.

Severus laughed.

"Well you've had enough raising by Krait to know that she considers idle hands a personal affront" said he. "She knows how to work and has made sure all of you youngsters do too."

"And she's taught us how to make chores less arduous; and how many hands make light work" said Seagh. "And at that I could do worse in finding out about Russian fey by asking our Russian elves we stole. For whilst they may not know much they may have stories!"

Severus nodded agreement; that WAS a good idea! The elves had served the brutal Odessa officer they had taken them from for generations; but even so they might have their own folk tales that the masters never got to hear!

oOoOo

Apart from minor interruptions from Spass and the slight shock of finding the Grey Scholar gliding through a bookcase in the library the new occupants made very little difference to the majority of the school; though the Muggle Marauders did ask Irmi to teach them her patent spell of lightning bolt blasting, in order to figure out a way to tone it down; on the principle that if electricity disrupted magic – as the Lowther twins knew better than anyone – then such brief shocks would be useful as incentives to discourage either poltergeists or ghosts from making too much of a flaming nuisance of themselves.

It was something that had a side effect because as Pete Lowther was practising his electric prod curse whilst propping his back against his twin, who was trying to perfect his colour changing charm in preparation for the OWLs coming up next term, Fred yelped as his own spell dissipated in mid cast from Peter's electrical blast.

They then started duelling with more serious spells with Peter firing off electrical blasts nearby.

It was not quite as good as a shield charm as sometimes it only diminished a spell; but it seemed to work on those spells that _protego_ did not touch – _avocado kedavra_ for example.

"And if it works on the avocado curse, it works on the killing curse" said Fred; and they proceeded to present it to the MSHG.

Severus called on David to cast the killing curse at him, knowing that David could actually manage to do it without getting cold feet. So could Krait but Severus did not want to risk electrocuting Krait while she was still breast feeding.

David was happy to help out; and gasped out loud as Severus set up a web of electrical discharge in front of him.

"You can feel it being disrupted as it leaves your wand; quite disconcerting" he said. "Well that's another sure counter Sev; well done you twins. Mind you, only blood group could muster the power to create that much energy."

"I should think any powerful wizard would manage in enough of an emergency" said Severus. "Not a single speck came through to the scar though; and if it upsets the caster that has to be an advantage too. Heh, I wonder, if there are attackers on brooms if a sufficiently powerful burst would temporarily disrupt the flying charms."

"I've all but come off my broom before for power lines I didn't know about" said David with feeling. "And we all know what electrical storms do to brooms; make them totally unpredictable! Nice work, don't neglect your other schoolwork you lot" he added to the Muggle Marauders as a whole.

oOoOo

It was obviously a term for visitors.

Strang contacted Severus in his office via globe.

"There's a female and a baby asking for sanctuary, boss" he said "I'm bringing her up, account of her seeming scared; said she was an old girl called Amarantha, once Keil".

"Merlin's beard!" said Severus "I'd have thought she'd want to shake the dust of this place off her shoes… sanctuary you say? Well she has some sense then!"

Severus pulsed his wives, and also Victor, to send the head boy to escort Amarantha to his office.

She might very well indeed want sanctuary; but it was bad policy to permit those who had not been model students to wander about the place willy-nilly.

Amarantha's looks were a shock when Victor brought her to Severus' office. She had never been the beauty her sometime crony of convenience Morgana Fairchild had been; but she had always been a pretty girl. Now she was pasty and ill looking and the touches of lines of worry; and did not look the mere twenty years old she really was. She had a baby two or three months old clutched to her in a blanket. She took one look at Severus and burst into tears.

Sirri removed the baby from her grasp to cuddle and Severus and Krait manoeuvred the girl onto the sofa to sit each side with compassionate arms around her.

"Tell me all about it Amarantha" said Severus staring firmly into her eyes.

"I – I met this man" said Amarantha "And he was so handsome and caring and kind – or so it seemed. He was German – his name is Alaric Von Stern – and….. and I fell in love" she said. "Jade had told me that some Germans take their wives wands from them but I could not believe such of Alaric; he was so interested in my schoolwork. I know now" she added bitterly "That he was pumping me to get information about Prince Peak for Odessa; but then I was flattered. You can laugh if you like."

"I would not ever laugh at a girl cruelly deceived by one of the dogs of Odessa" said Severus quietly. "All of Miss Cackle's girls were more innocent than I could hope to cure in a mere couple of years. For all your worldly wise airs and cynical air, you have been no exception; and I am sorry that I was unable to give you enough tools to deal with the real world."

"If only I had listened harder!" wailed Amarantha. "I – I married Alaric; I told him my blood was pure because I don't think we have any muggles in the family tree; I didn't think it mattered much anyway so long as I was of good wizarding stock. And the wedding night was just fine; he – he was a little FORCEFUL but that's not necessarily bad, at least I didn't think so; only next morning I couldn't find my wand. And I said so and he said I shouldn't need that any more now I was married as it was his job to protect me; and I said that was ridiculous, what about grooming charms and little household spells; and he said he had six house elves so I need not worry my pretty head. Have you any idea how oppressive it is being waited on hand and foot and not doing ANYTHING?"

"I can guess" said Severus "I've trained enough elves to be independent, and I find the untrained and servile ones make me want to scream."

"Yes; it is like that!" said Amarantha. "I guess I never knew before – my family have never had an elf – how irritating elves can be when they're NOT like the school elves. Well I told him, no wand, no sex; so he…. he" she flushed and buried her face in her hands "He raped me! I suppose you'll say a man can't rape his wife – but it was so degrading and humiliating!"

Dione sat beside Amarantha on the floor and took her hands.

"I KNOW Amarantha" she said "I was raped by my stepfather when I was fourteen; he got me with child. Severus took that baby to rear as his own; it's why I ended up with him."

"I was raped by my former master – before I took this big form" said Sirri "And I was lucky NOT to get with child. Krait and Severus rescued me."

"And I understand humiliation from perverse and twisted lust too" said Krait. "We do not think it ridiculous; just because this creep married you doesn't stop him being a creep."

"Oh! I – I never knew" said Amarantha.

"We have a loving family now to overcome it; why should we parade our previous damage to schoolchildren – unless they need the reassurance that you CAN survive it?" said Krait. "It was none of your business. Now it IS your business because you need to know we understand and will stand by you."

"I – I curled up and cried the first time" said Amarantha "And brewed a potion to make sure I wasn't pregnant; that I had managed to learn even though I wasn't much good at potions here. And that I could do without a wand. And I made contraceptive draughts. And he kept checking me to see if I was pregnant yet; and – and I told him a girl doesn't necessarily want a baby right away and he – he managed to make me tell him I'd brewed contraceptive, and he – he beat me. And he forbade the elves to get me ingredients; and – and he cast a stinging hex in-inside me and said that he would check weekly if I was pregnant and every week I wasn't he'd – he'd stimulate my womb the same way until I was. And he locked me in my room and came to me every night. I almost got used to it" she sobbed again "And I had little choice. So I spent all my pregnancy locked up, seeing nobody but elves and Alaric checking my baby's health from time to time. And all I could think of for a while was trying to kill myself; and then I got angry. And I remembered that some of you people could cast spells without a wand; and – and I started practising. It was so hard! And I was doing it wordlessly as well in case he had those ruddy elves lurking invisible to spy on me. I think after a while if he had, he stopped because I made myself just sit all day and look resigned; and he actually made them make me exercise every day for the health of the baby. Not a nice walk outside, mind, but physical jerks in my luxurious prison. It isn't healthful I can tell you! But I made like I was complying; and finally I managed to pull off locomotor charms. And then it was a question of practising; and as I got bigger I knew I couldn't escape until after baby was born. And he did at least have in a woman who used midwifery spells; to make sure his brat survived I suppose. But then he came in, all in a rage, and said I was a blood liar because my great grandmother had had an illegitimate baby; and I said so what; and he slapped me about and screeched at me that who knew WHAT had fathered her child. And he only stopped when I passed out because I was bleeding again; it was the day after I'd birthed. Then he said he would have to research to find out if I had birthed some lowborn scum because I was so perverse. And I shouted back and said I hoped that my great grandmother had slept with a goblin; and he hit me again but at least I made him peer at my ears in horror. And I've been waiting to get enough strength to use _alohamora_ on the door and get out of his schloss; and then I put all my trust in knowing the area here so well and apparated; because if small Alaric and I ended up lost in apparation or fatally splinched, I really didn't care any more because at least I'd die free and baby wouldn't be murdered. I don't know who got her pregnant; it's such a long time ago; who cares?"

"Most Germans" said Severus dryly "They don't consider you a proper wizard if you've not got eleven generations of provable purity in you. Which is why being made a fool of by a half breed like me upset Odessa so much" he added. "You did well Amarantha; and we shall assuredly protect you. And there are a number of things we have to consider."

"Yes; even under fidelius charm an elf can find one of their own blood – to wit, the babe" said Krait. "When he finds out you are gone we shall have to deal with all his elves."

"Do – they don't deserve to DIE" said Amarantha.

"There's more ways of dealing than killing" said Krait. "But Odessa has been gone almost a year – I take it that this Von Stern character refuses to accept that?"

Amarantha stared.

"Gone?" she said.

"Yes; our Jade infiltrated Durmstrang and brought Odessa down" shrugged Krait "Last Easter as it happens. The government in Germany has altered radically to be more in line with that of Britain; it's not perfect but we have forced in a few good changes. Time will improve it. We disapprove of racist scum as you know; and if people go out of their way to try to force their nasty views on us we get irritated. Gerhardt, like Voldemort, irritated us; and they share the distinction of being dead. You were right to come to us; we WILL deal with this Von Stern."

"I'll call death duel on him" said Severus. "Give me a chance to practise those new spells those monkeys in the fifth developed."

"Use the Hermione Granger Shrinking Special" said Krait. "And then obliteeriate him nastily that way."

"It has a charm of its own" said Severus.

"What is that?" asked Amarantha.

"Hermione developed it when up against a cruel little racist Tadeusz Zwed; let him cast at her shield charm while she chanted; and made the piste itself attack him by shrinking him. By running off the piste he could save himself."

Amarantha paled.

"Tadeusz Zwed is a friend of – of my husband" she said.

"By the company they keep so shall you know them" said Severus dryly. "Looks like they may then be using Poland as a base to fight to keep Odessa alive; Tadeusz Zwed is a Polish name. One of the uses of Ancient Runes; to know where people come from" he added absently. "Don't worry Amarantha; I will kill this husband of yours and leave your son the clear heir so YOU have the ordering of the elves; and I strongly suggest you first order them on a trip to England to break the self-punishment compulsion then give them clothes and pay them to stay."

"I don't ever want to go back to that castle!" said Amarantha.

"Well we shall sort something out for your future – when you are free" said Dione "Severus is very clever about that sort of thing."

oOoOo

The first elf arrived next to Sirri and the baby and went to snatch the child.

The elf, a little female, went flying across the room half stunned at a gesture of Sirri; and the castle chatelaine set up a brief chant, Krait chuckling and joining in. The intruding elf was enclosed in bars of crackling blue.

Amarantha gasped. She had seen that Sirri was powerful; she had not realised just HOW powerful.

"Very neat my dear" said Severus.

"What did you do?" asked Amarantha "Don't hurt Hildi, she has tried to be kind without breaking orders."

"She's not hurt" said Sirri "But nor can she go anywhere; I understand elf apparation on an arithmantic level. I can use Arithmancy to place her in a non elf apparating zone. And to restrict her movement. Excuse me" she chanted a little more, extending the area and summoning into it a toilet pan and a curtain. "One's comforts need to be addressed after all" she said. "Things can be passed through the bars like food and drink; but she can't get out. We'll extend the size as each of them arrive. Oh dear" as Hildi started banging her head on the floor. Sirri made a complex pass with her wand and the little elf fell asleep. "Temporary measure but best I can do on the spur of the moment."

"Draught of living death until we can free them" said Severus. "I have a few doses."

"Good job we still have a few Wiggenweld potions to counteract it" said Krait dryly.

"Seagh's in darkest Russia; I'm sure if I contact him he'll manage to pick up a few unicorn horns in passing" said Severus serenely. "Russia's stiff with unicorns; and I doubt many of their rather effete wizards manage to get into the wilder parts to collect horns; too many fey."

oOoOo

Amarantha was installed in the family quarters for the time being with Sirri to be with her; and over the rest of the day they collected the other five house elves.

"And he hasn't any idea where she's gone either" said Severus in satisfaction "Because none of them have got back to report. And as she seems to have railed against us to him at first for our ways I doubt anyone as limited as an Odessa man would realise that however much she hated being in trouble for having ways we disapproved of, she could still see the school as a haven of safety"

The others nodded. Amarantha had proffered the opinion once that whatever else she might feel, she had every respect for Severus' efficiency! And horrified, and finding the kind of racism that put her and her child at risk, she had turned to someone she knew would combat the kind of man her husband was; and who she knew was strong. The idea of placing herself into the hands of one she had disliked however, just because she disliked him a lot less than she now loathed her husband, never would occur; indeed it is doubtful whether Von Stern even REALISED that she loathed him. He saw her no doubt as perverse and in need of schooling; and when she had recognised her role of German womanhood inferior to her husband, doubtless he even expected her to be contented! She had been complying; and no doubt up to the moment she had run away Von Stern had congratulated himself that he had tamed her and that all the English would eventually be so tamed.

oOoOo

Severus set out the next day, it being the weekend, using Amarantha's knowledge of where she had been held. Since she had been brought to the castle as a bride, she must of necessity know where it was; the only way she had been able to apparate away from it to Austria. And lucky NOT to splinch herself at that; but distance of time had loaned enough nostalgia to the school to give her perfect visualisation.

Severus took Ron and David to be seconds; and went into the nearest wizarding gasthof where he proceeded to rise and

sing in his fine light baritone a funny and scurrilous song about Von Stern.

That ought to bring him running.

The song involved Von Stern's stern – as one might say – and a variety of different magical creatures. One had to be blunt with Germans; subtlety passed them by.

He was starting the verse about the centaur with plays on the term 'horse-play' when Von Stern arrived with a loud CRAC! With his wand out. He started pouring curses into Severus, who absently brushed them aside, finished his verse and said

"Isn't it usually customary to issue a challenge to duel first? I thought you counted yourself as civilised people; obviously I was wrong."

He recognised Von Stern from the pictures in Amarantha's head; and knew that the German wizard was even angrier than otherwise because his wife, son, and all his house elves had disappeared.

"The hell with that! Scum don't deserve a challenge! Avad….OOOOW" Von Stern tried the killing curse and Severus electrocuted the spell neatly. The killing curse thus bounced stung the wand hand of its caster nastily and Von Stern dropped his wand.

Severus had not even got his out.

"I think it would be politer to the good people here if we take this outside" said Severus. "And if you do not call duel on me, I call duel on YOU for your attacking of me out of hand; and for your discourtesy of using the killing curse where it might have easily deflected onto other people had I not been so skilled in its negation."

There was a scared murmur of assent from the other wizards; and Severus rose in a leisurely fashion to move out of the door.

Von Stern scrabbled for his wand and cast the blasting hex at his back. Severus had been expecting it and a flick of the finger had his shield charm up.

"Not civilised at all then to cast at a man's back" said Severus "Ah, Mein Herr Vehmgericht; you will perchance officiate over a duel?"

"What's going on here?" demanded the German police-magistrate.

"It's very simple" murmured Severus, wondering where he would be without 'Where Eagles Dare' to quote from. "I insulted Von Stern with the intent of forcing a duel on him; so he attacked me out of hand and I countered, suggested we take the business outside and he has just been casting at my back. I should like a legal adjudicator."

"If such is true you have won on the point of law concerning cheating" said the Vehmgericht.

"Nevertheless I am willing to waive such a technical win; I wish to call death duel on Von Stern for casting the killing curse at me as I sat unwanded" said Severus.

"That is indeed grounds for a death duel; did you so cast, Herr Von Stern?" asked the Vehmgericht.

"He does not deserve duel! He is scum! He should be locked up and executed!" screamed Von Stern "I'm going to kill the bastard!"

"Then I shall set up a piste for the duel" said the Vehmgericht "As it seems no reconciliation can be reached. May I ask, Mein Herr, what is your quarrel with Herr Von Stern that you force duel on him?" he asked Severus.

Severus smiled.

"Indeed yes. He deceived and seduced a former pupil of mine; took her wand from her as no REAL man would do; and when she objected subjected her to humiliation and violence. And so as a real man does not hit women I assumed that Von Stern was incapable of being a man and probably had to enjoy the sexual favours of trolls and such in order to have some gratification" he hastily erected a lightning barrier to stop the Vehmgericht being included in another attempt at the killing curse "And I found his subsequent behaviour intemperate and of danger to others."

"Quite" said the Vehmgericht, rather shaken. And not least by having almost been on the receiving end of the killing curse – but by the casual way this stranger had blocked it. "Herein the piste; mount both of you and when one is dead you may leave. To protect others, once you are both within I shall set wards that neither can leave until one is dead."

Severus bowed curtly and walked into the area of the street designated; to call it mounting was but protocol since there was no raised area, just a bit of cobbled street. Von Stern charged in too.

Severus actually got around to drawing his wand now. And Von Stern attacked without waiting for the word. Cutting spells were the speciality of his friend Zwed; and if this monstrous wizard could counter the killing curse, perhaps he would instead bleed to death! Von Stern shouted out his spells in his anger.

And the crowd that swiftly gathered gasped that the black haired stranger did not even open his mouth to counter the jinxes and curses poured onto him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"So you like cutting people" said Severus softly "And you like casting spells to cause pain – and have lost all shame that you do that to a wandless witch who is SUPPOSED to be under your protection as a wife. Let us see how you actually enjoy all the pain you have put her through."

From being silent he began chanting, absently flicking aside any spells Von Stern cast. He used a variant on the secret fears curse, depositing instead into Von Stern's mind the collective memories of Amarantha's pain from his violence; one incident after another, after another replayed.

And then he sat down as Von Stern screamed and clutched futilely at various parts of his own body as he stood immobile screaming. He did not seem to much like giving birth though doubtless he would be one of the first to tell a woman not to create a fuss as it was a natural process. Severus reflected that Dumbledore would probably at this point have decided to give the man a clean death; but Dumbledore had not been close to Tom Marvolo Riddle and his ilk, had not seen how the enjoyment of the pain of others had been a part of their psyche; had not been at the receiving end time and again. This creature wanted to keep Odessa alive – and Severus had used legilimensy on the man as he planted the memories of Amarantha – and that was more than was to be tolerated. And about time he had a lesson in what he was happy to deal out.

Severus rose to his feet.

No he could not see it to its logical conclusion; he negated the spell.

"I am better than you; I do not need to see you die of the agonies you have inflicted on others" he said; and wordlessly cast his own cutting spell, _sectum sempra. _ There was no point giving away the incantation if these people did not know it; which as this clod was using a species of the _diffindo_ spell they likely did not. The man screamed again and blood spurted. Severus chanted absently to increase its flow. And then it was quickly over. He left the area of the piste.

"Honour is satisfied" said the Vehmgericht "What is your name, stranger?"

Severus looked him in the eye.

"I am Severus Snape" he said "And I object to those who wed my pupils only to gain information with the view to keeping some of Odessa going underground. I suggest you may wish to investigate this man's associate, Tadeusz Zwed. Perhaps you will direct any paperwork concerning the estate of the infant son of Von Stern to the child's mother Frau Amarantha Von Stern at Prince Peak Castle where she is recuperating from her ordeal as his wife in the care of my own good ladies."

"Thank you Herr Professor; I shall see that it is so" the Vehmgericht clicked his heels and inclined his head. "The tales about your ability do not lie; you are a mighty wizard. It is fortunate that you are careful to observe protocol."

"I believe in the rule of law" said Severus. "Any idiot with a little power can enforce that power on all and rule by might; I consider such to be beneath contempt. I would not have interfered here had I not been begged for aid. I protect those who look to me for the same."

The vehmgericht bowed again.

Severus had legilimensed him; the man had himself been disgusted by the way Von Stern threw his weight around for being of old and pure family. That he had got his comeuppance had NOT displeased the officer in the least. And to find the notorious Severus Snape a softly spoken man who did NOT act in indiscriminate violence as some said he did was a relief. Snape was a frightening man; the more because he did NOT raise his voice and nor did he make threats. And one had a feeling that there was more power there and to spare than what he used on Von Stern; after all, were not his counters as effortless as any grown man indulging a wandless moppet? The Vehmgericht shuddered. They had much to thank that Snape did NOT want to impose his will on all!

oOoOo

There had been some little excitement while the duel was going on with the same Tadeusz Zwed arriving and trying to interfere.

David had grinned at him.

"Remember me from the duelling contest Herr Zwed?" he said "I'm the mudblood who took third. Of course I was only a child then; just fifteen. If you want to duel another English mudblood I can happily oblige you. I hope you've learned enough in the meantime to make it a bit more interesting though. I have new tools at MY disposal; I thought I, like Hermione, might reduce you in size. But I'll transfigure you into a house elf. With all the built in compulsions. I was part of the team that did it to Von Frettchen's spy you know; interesting little chant."

Zwed had paled and had promptly apparated away.

Had he been on home territory he would have had little choice but to fight, to prove to his own adherents that he could take a mudblood; but those terrible English who bore the scar were not HUMAN! One had no shame in getting away from them!

oOoOo

Krait, Sirri and Dione had a distinct question about Severus' will when he got back.

"Severus, we know you're going to want to protect her; and that she's got a lot of high emotion running right now; but none of us want Amarantha Keil as the fourth Madam Snape" said Krait. "Sorry for her though we be."

"Thank goodness for that" said Severus "I don't want her as the fourth Madam Snape either. I imagine we'll be rearing the child, however; I saw within her that she loves him enough not to want anything bad to happen to him, and to avoid him being reared by racists; but maternal she isn't."

"We'd already come to THAT arrangement with her" said Dione "Small Alaric Von Stern is to be raised with our other wards. And she will visit him regularly; and take him on holidays with her as he gets older. But she wants to get back to England and back on the social circuit as soon as she's recovered. It's what she understands; and she wants the familiarity of what she understands. We'll have her for a few months here – the school is also what she understands and it is comforting for her – and then she's going home to her parents. Only we were concerned if the er, romance of you duelling on her behalf might turn her silly head while she's still vulnerable."

"It's rather a shock, isn't it, to find our hardboiled Amarantha being vulnerable?" said Severus "I can't see her even being able to spell romantic let alone finding the situation thus. If I went into society more – like Lucius – I could see her thinking being number four might have its advantages; but I shun society. I don't think we'll have any trouble."

oOoOo

Amarantha did weep on Severus' neck rather when she found that she was a widow; and thanked him over and over. And when the papers came through, she readily signed over Alaric to Professor Severus Snape as his guardian.

There was one more job to do.

The house elves were revived.

"Your former master is dead" said Amarantha "I want you to all go to England and then return."

They obeyed their master's widow; they had little choice.

And when they returned, Amarantha had an item of clothing each for them.

They gasped in horror.

"Please Mistress, we HAD to do what he told us!" squeaked Hildi, the first one "Please don't punish us!"

"It is not intended as a punishment" said Amarantha "I want to pay YOU Hildi to work for me; and the estate will pay the rest of you to remain and keep the castle clean for when your infant master is old enough to make use of it. You can then take orders from his new guardian, Professor Snape here. You can be as enslaved elves in all things save you have the choice to leave."

"Hildi will go with the mistress but please we does not want to be free!" squeaked Hildi.

Amarantha looked helplessly at Severus.

"You had better order them in that case to take orders from myself and my wives as from their little master" said Severus "They are not ready for freedom it seems; but at least they will feel no urge to self punish as they have been to England."

Amarantha issued the orders quickly; and the elves returned thankfully to their familiar castle.

And Amarantha settled in to do quiet reading and research, and had her wand at her side for having sent Hildi to find it; and Alaric was eased into the nursery with the other children.

oOoOo

This was the tenth anniversary year of the death of Voldemort – one reason Severus was so irritable over finding yet more racist supremacists still being an irritation – and as there were so many people on the staff who had been involved in that business, Severus bowed to the inevitable as the older ones pestered him for real stories; and the school was invited to a telling of the tale in its entirety.

It was to be told in the evening over a week; lessons ended half an hour earlier than usual to accommodate the tale. As Severus said, hopefully the children would learn more that was of practical value in the telling than they would lose in missed lesson and preparation time. It was a story that should be told truthfully; leaving out only the most secret parts and the most personal portions of the tale. And it was a tale of Harry Potter from birth to his temporary death; and Ron and Hermione to see it was told properly.

It was a tale told of a friend by friends; with interruptions, the odd do-you-remember, and arguments over what happened exactly when; and it captivated the listeners. This was not history; this was about real people. And the idea of Madam Granger being a little girl with the temerity to steal boomslang skin to make polyjuice potion when they suspected the great Draco Malfoy of skulduggery was quite horrifying.

"Of course it never occurred to us we were stealing" said Hermione "It was, as we thought, for the general good of the school and so the school supplies were fair to use. Sanctimonious little articles we were!"

"And Draco was a git back then, poor sod" said Ron "His dad was controlled by deep compulsions of course and acted cold to him; and of course he expected to get recruited as a deatheater, whatever he felt about it. It was our Krait who stole Draco."

"Oh Draco was always all right on the inside; he didn't take much stealing" said Krait. "I just adopted him as my brother and loved him firmly until he gave in. It usually works."

"That's our Krait for you" said Ron cheerfully "Bullying Harry and Sev into actually talking to each other, bullying Draco and Hermie into talking to each other and mothering us all indiscriminately even people like Sev and Padfoot who are way older than her."

It was all very exciting; and in places rather frightening; and intensely moving. The sober looks that came onto the faces of their professors as they recalled particularly frightening episodes was enough to make the youngsters think; they saw these professors of theirs as magnificent and invincible beings. Someone who could scare THEM had to be the very epitome of evil power and they shuddered!

It impressed Amarantha Keil too.

"That's why you hate racism, isn't it?" she said abruptly to Krait after they had cleared the room on the penltimate story evening "Because HE stood for the ultimate expression of it?"

"Yes I suppose so" said Krait. "I had never come across other races like goblins and elves before I went to Hogwarts; I was used to muggle racism based on skin colour and thought it silly; and thought to the fact that those of minorities were given preferential treatment to avoid charges of racism just as silly. It only causes resentment. It's why we've always tried to be absolutely even-handed. We expelled a kid last year for racism; he was a goblin. And there are laws preventing what muggles call positive discrimination. The goblin relations office and the elf relation office are under a new office, the discrimination prevention office; and if any employer is afraid of being accused of discrimination he can ask for independent arbitration. To prevent goblins especially being treated too tenderly. But it's partly as you say because of my loathsome father – and my knowledge that he was half muggle. And it's partly my innate sense of pragmatism; if someone can do a job, why avoid using their skill because of race? It's a waste of resources. It's a pragmatism I share with Uncle Lucius. Only he really IS as soft as butter where women are concerned and his four wives are wed for love not politics. I expect you missed a lot of his tarting around if you've been isolated and deprived of news; and I can't remember how many he had when you were last around."

"He had a goblin woman."

"Tanjela. Yes, her oldest son is in the lower sixth; eight OWLs grade 'O' across the board and Lucius justly proud of him. He's got another one, a half elf half fey woman who's about my height and bright blue; Narcissa has great fun dressing them all to tone beautifully. And if they're all happy, who cares?"

"Well you can't talk anyhow – Professor Snape having three of you!"

Krait grinned.

"Well that sort of happened because of various things; Sirri needed an intellectual equal and a father for her two elf-conceived children, and Mimi had to be rescued because she'd been sold when she was a baby. And Dione, having had That Man's baby just kind of joined the family too. You wouldn't fit with us Amarantha; even though we're rearing your baby, there are some people who just wouldn't suit us. Adversity has given you depth and more compassion I think – you've been kind to Hildi – but I don't think you're the natural nosy scholar that the rest of us are with our heads always in a book."

"No I'm not; and thanks all the same but I don't actually find him attractive" said Amarantha. "He's a person you CAN run to – I found that out – but not as a lover. How did Lucius Malfoy manage to avoid Morgana Fairchild's plans for him?"

Krait giggled.

"Turned her over to his women mostly! She was SO keen to get to be a part of his close set so the girls dragged her into all their social reform efforts; by the time she'd discovered that Lucius expects ALL his women to do things like help indigent women to give birth in their squalid apartments and to clean up after them, to kiss repellently grubby brats and inspect the apartments that he's buying out, lice, rats, mould and all she fled in terror when he started talking warmly to her and about drains."

Amarantha chuckled maliciously; it was the first time she had laughed since she had come back to the school and it did a lot to make her look more like her old self.

"I always did think Morgana was too ambitious for her own good" she said. "Drains! No flies on Lucius Malfoy!"

"I guess I might dispute that when he's been down drains…. Only the thing is, Lucius DOES believe in being hands on with his social programs and his wives support him fully. And Narcissa in an apartment with nine or ten filthy kids and a birthing woman who's been too ill to care for them properly and a drunken wretch of a husband has to be seen to be believed! Jinxes the violent bastard into a ball, has the place cleaned and freshened in a trice, the children fed, the baby birthed, a kid sent out for fresh flowers and as soon as the poor woman has recovered she has the husband either well threatened into good behaviour or the whole lot of the family bar him whisked off into a safe clean environment. She turns violent pimps into women; though I confess that was one I invented. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander after all. And now, my dear, you know it's not just a vice of the poor to be violent towards wives; just that poverty often exacerbates any problems there already are. And in that case often associated with drunkenness. It's a selfish way to deal with your problems; but a common one. And like any addiction is an illness that CAN be cured. The upper class addiction of choice is Felix Felicis. Sorry; I'm closely associated with Cissy and the girls in their society for marginalised females."

"I – I guess I'd like to join" blurted out Amarantha "To put the viewpoint of how it can happen to ANYONE and help those who want to leave violent upper class husbands and are afraid they won't be believed."

"That's about the biggest thing you've ever said" said Krait softly "And I honour you for that. Cissy will probably find you a paid post at that to poke around. You have the right family to have the entrée into high society; and you also now have the experience to know what signs to look for; the frightened look, the colourless tone, the downcast eyes, the choice of robe that is less revealing than this season decrees to cover bruises. Some of us wear robes that aren't revealing for other reasons; I have nasty scars on my back from my early life. But such things are a start. And then you gossip and prattle inconsequentially and above all listen. And sooner or later you pick up enough facts to approach the said woman. And nine times out of ten you'll be rebuffed at least the first time. Plenty of these creeps have their women convinced that if they don't cleave to THEM, no other man is going to want them because they've given her such a poor self image. Or she's afraid to do something different because at least she knows what to expect. Cowed people can't make decisions. That's why we're so impressed at how brave you were; to decide to escape AND to do something as hard as teach yourself wandless and wordless magic to do it. But you must, my dear, learn NOT to despise – not too much anyway, and never show it – those women with less guts than you. Which is most of them. Most of them will whine that they loooove him; or that he loooves them, and won't like to hear that you think he has a funny way of showing it. Most won't escape. Most won't dare. But you can be there for the few that only need a little encouraging to get away. Still think you can do it?"

"I don't know" said Amarantha honestly "But if I can do anything to show up such beasts and help even a few to get away I guess I have to try don't I?"

"Now THAT will impress Cissy" said Krait "And I'll write to her about you. And your boy will get to go to Lucius' parties too and meet his various brats; so he'll have decent English contacts. I mean, he would anyway; our sprouts always do. Word of advice; don't make a play for Lucius. If you and he make beautiful music together let Narcissa tell you about it. If you get pushy she will NOT keep you around the place."

"I rather think I'm off men in general actually" said Amarantha. "You know the only reason I might have felt tempted to make a play for Mr Malfoy would be to interest him more than Morgana; but I'm not about to piss off a potential benefactress in Narcissa Malfoy by making eyes at her husband. Even cocking a snoot at Morgana isn't worth that!"

Krait laughed.

"If you're working with Narcissa, Morgana might THINK you're boffing Lucius which would achieve the same snoot-cocking ability. Dozy little cow, Gorbrin poisoned her a little bit with a babbling potion in the holidays last year and let us know she had plans to get Lucius intoxicated with her beauty so he set aside Narcissa and made him keep his other political wives as pensioners in cottages in his grounds! She hasn't got a CLUE! Lucius dotes on all his women; and if he has a favourite I've yet to hear it. He doesn't do intoxicated with beauty of one over another."

"She always was daft" shrugged Amarantha "Being rude to Sirri when she's got the zig-zag scar; I admit I was horrified to treat an elf like an equal but I was scared enough of how hard she was! Only I couldn't then figure out that meant I had reason to respect her and treat her as more than an equal. I'm grateful to Sirri for saving Alaric."

"Well Amarantha, you always liked to stir; but at least you never were so lost to decency and common sense to try blackmail – like Morgana did. She also tried to get extra lessons by offering herself to Severus. I gave her the extra lessons; which she could have just for the asking without trying to use her assets. I fear Morgana is never going to be a luminary of the school. You however have learned some hard and painful lessons; but if you've learned them well we shall be very glad to claim you as an old girl."

"Thank you" said Amarantha.

oOoOo

The final story night was accompanied by cocoa and crumpets and was attended by Draco himself whom Severus had asked to drop in.

"I can't stay long" said Draco "Just to do my Convolvumort thing; there's a dark wizard on the loose somewhere near Hogwarts and I'm keeping a watching brief. Though I fancy the remaining Mad Marauders, the Belle Marauders and Lilith's lot have it in hand."

"Why am I not surprised?" Said Severus.

Draco laughed.

"Oh they danced up a Buckley Cooper engulfing charm all around the castle and made themselves an oubliette."

"They watch too much Labyrinth" said Severus.

"CAN you watch too much Labyrinth?" said Draco. "Anyway, when they've been playing hurley they're ALL princes of the land of stench."

Severus laughed. After all, Draco HAD named his younger son 'Jareth' because it was the sort of name a Malfoy ought to have in the family.

And Convolvumort went down very well; as did the idea that Draco should open himself to be attacked just to bring Voldemort and his cohorts to battle at the exact time and place the conspirators had arithmantically worked out as best for them! This made Arithmancy a suddenly more popular subject; and Hermione Granger-Weasley was heard to mutter that if being let off homework for a few nights improved the efforts this much it was well worth having her girlhood peccadilloes pulled over as well!

And the Prince Peak children felt very privileged to be at school with such illustrious fighters against evil and to know the real story. And it may be said that Evadne Horrocks had a lot of writing to do in her biographies of her famous wizards!

oOoOo

"And at that we've held a lot back" said Ron later to the other staff who were involved "Not that they have any need to know about such things as Albus and his sister, nor about Prongs and Scales in more than the loosest of ways."

Severus had mentioned that being fair to Harry had been hard because he had not got on well with Harry's father at school – though they HAD grown out of that – since hearty and well meaning types and swots did not always manage to mix as well as Emily Grant and Elsie Blackwood; who were the exception that proved the rule.

Emily had said loudly,

"And at that if she'd not been ill and we had to be careful of her, I guess I might not have been so sorry for her not being allowed to join in and got to know her because of that."

"Honest to a fault, Miss Grant" said Severus "Yes; you have that in you which is not unlike James; though I believe you have the self honesty even at your age to listen when the juniors got stroppy about unintentional bullying on your part. Well done to them AND to you by the way for working it out without needing adult intervention. James learned his objectivity later in life; it DID rather sour our relationship. But he is the man in the portrait behind my desk so you can see we have made up from across the veil. Quick homily here; try not to let such despites for schoolfellows interfere in your lives; get a bit more adult than we were encouraged to be in our time. Anyone still quarrelling in the sixth without really good cause should really be ashamed of themselves."

As the sixth were generally to be described as 'mostly harmless' outside those who were blooded, even the Tugwood twins being an exasperation rather than any trouble this was largely superfluous advice; but Severus hoped it would be remembered through the school.

oOoOo

And then they were returning to normal lessons as the end of term approached; and the only big excitement was a fixture against the Bigonville Bombers of Luxembourg.

The inclusion of a talented goblin seeker was known to the Luxembourg team; and they treated Arbrek with respect.

"Small and fast; perfect for a seeker" said their captain. "It will give our seeker much to think about; he will have to concentrate hard!"

The other team had come visiting as Severus did not want his exam classes too disrupted; but a Quidditch match was a good distraction for them.

And it was fun; and Luxemburg won without much difficulty. It was the only team in the tiny state of Luxemburg; and was perforce also the national team! The players were a good team and held their own in European championships, but to have a practise team ready to give them a game was also good.

The visitors won six hundred and ten to three hundred in the end, and their seeker took the snitch just as Arbrek got on its trail. But it had been a good match and good fun; and the players not in the least condescending. Indeed, they were talking about training up a goblin to replace their own seeker by checking out their own youngsters.

"Pick a few to sponsor and send them to school here then from an early age" said Severus "To have a good general education too; REALLY invest in the future. Those who aren't good enough to play might yet make referees or linesmen or coaches."

That went down well!

Having such good coaches at the school that they were ABLE to give a national team a reasonable practice match meant that such really would be an investment in the future of their team!

oOoOo

To those who were not playing quidditch, the game of choice was the board game 'Beat Voldemort' that had been the must-have gift for Christmas and Evadne was the first to have the clever thought of asking the teachers who had been there to autograph the inside of the lid.

Having said 'yes' to one child the staff could hardly refuse the rest; and tried not to sigh over the number of copies they were signing.

oOoOo

The exam classes were to be given intensive study periods into the first part of the Easter Holidays so that they might be permitted the second half of the holidays off to attend the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the victory over Voldemort that were to be held at Hogwarts school; it was the English students on the whole who might wish to attend these, and the blood group ready in case Buckley Cooper had acquired any cohorts himself to attack his nieces and nephews. Severus was to attend the formal part as Severin Prince, the name by which he was known in council. And Tarquin was excited to be officially Severin Prince's son because someone had to be and he had retained the surname Prince from his real father whom he scarcely recalled. He and Sevvy would be starting Hogwarts next year and they would use this time to reaffirm such ties as they already had with others of the same age, such as Krait's little brother Salazar.

How many would-be weevils would be at the celebration could only be guessed at; but there would be so many people that really it was not likely that those who did NOT know each other would ever get together. It was a hellish piece of logistics and Krait was glad she was not in charge of it; though as head girl of Hogwarts, their daughter Lydia WAS in the thick of it!

And those of the Peak who WERE going to the celebrations thoughtfully packed the lid of their 'beat Voldemort' game to see how many more autographs they could collect on it.

oOoOo

The main protagonists arrived for their private celebration, with Severus grumbling that there was no need to drag the whole business up and Ron laughing and saying any excuse for a party was a good excuse.

"Your idea of a good party is one where you eat too much" said Krait amicably.

"There are other things to do at parties?" said Ron.

The Order of the Phoenix was there too of course; and junior Marauders in school were invited. Moody had brought his wife Abigail and her son Salazar, who was promptly collected by Lilith, along with Sevvy and Tarquin, by such of her set as were there. They went to see the display of Riddle's life including Salazar's own part in Wizarding Wireless Vision playing the part of his father. They also looked at the horcruces. The Peverell ring was to be Salazar's from that day too once it was released from the display cabinet it now rested in – under the gaze of two security trolls – with other horcruces.,

'Do-you-remembers' were doing the rounds of the feast, both Krait and Hermione laughing ruefully as Draco recalled how Krait had gone out of her way to shock people and Hermione's favourite phrase had been 'what ARE you like, Krait?'

Convolvumort had to give a speech at this juncture, joined by Grace as Leaky the house elf and David as Tuurd the troll; and a good time was had by all.

The younger members of the feast took themselves off to thoughtfully provided mattresses and sleeping bags as they felt the need so they need not leave the party entirely; they had screens to cut down the light if they wished to sleep, or might doze and get up for refreshments as they chose.

And Madam Minerva McGonagall proposed a toast to Harry and his disobedient friends whose failure to accept that children did not ought to be involved probably saved the day.

"Krait pointed out tae me that some must give up their childhoods so that others had the chance to have theirs; weel, it seemed harrd tae me, but she wis aye right" said Minerva "Though I cud hae wished is wisnae so. And I like tae think that with Odessa gone, yon wee marauders micht forbye hae a fine childhood wi'oot having tae tak' the responsibeelities o' ithers ontae their wee shoulders!"

"Oh I daresay we'll manage to flush out other dark wizards to play with, Minerva!" said Lilith cheekily.

"Wee sumpf" said Minerva without rancour.

oOoOo

The numbers of people who flooded in the next day were enough to drive Severus into the library after he had done his duty in his velvet mask as Severin Prince; and, shown by Lilith, into Tom Riddle's secret study that they had uncovered, where he was unlikely to be disturbed. Krait did Malfoy hauteur at anyone she wanted to get rid of; it generally worked. Krait thought it had the feel of a great medieval pilgrimage; those who just wanted to see where it had happened, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone with a zig-zag scar, especially Harry. Train, enchanted helicopter and portkey just kept bringing them in.

It was as well someone as efficient as Lydia WAS in charge of logistics, with able help from Beloc; it was a logistical nightmare. Most people were to sleep in tents, those that were not day trippers; and the sixth formers needed to act as ushers to see that the big marquee that held the display of the life and death of Tom Riddle was not overburdened. It was a well organised display and should satisfy the curiosity of those fascinated by Riddle without glamorising him.

The day ended successfully with a concert; in which the Broomstick Boys showed off how much they had improved under Severus' tuition and also pleased the youthful members by singing the Cauldron Monster Song and announcing that they had found a couple of new song writers in Chad Fenwick and Mad Lockhart its authors. Celestina Warbeck had a less auspicious greeting when sundry Marauders stuffed parsley in their ears.

"They read too much Asterix" said Severus dryly to Molly Weasley, who was most put out.

It was too much for Madam Warbeck that, during the interval she overheard Sevvy and Tarquin teaching their friends the Prince Peak version of her song, 'Cauldron full of hot strong prep' and she stormed out.

As Bella said to Molly, who was upset by this,

"If she's such a shallow little person that she can take a huff over little kids taking the piss, she's not worth knowing. Besides, Jocunda Sykes says she was a silly moo when she was at Hogwarts, and Jocunda Sykes was the first to fly the Atlantic on a broom which is way more memorable than doing banshee impressions with a hot strong wand up her backside, or however the Warbeck woman makes those horrible noises."

Molly was unsure whether to accept that taking a pet over small persons being rude was rather silly or to take exception to Bella's description of Celestina Warbeck's singing and merely said rather coolly that some people admired the singing witch's musical style.

"Yes and some people like crups too; so I suppose there's no accounting for taste" said Bella.

"You'd rather have her tactless and with foot in mouth syndrome than the sly piece HE made her into last time" said Severus smoothly to Molly.

"Well yes, Severus, I suppose I would" said Molly, truthfully. "And I suppose she IS very young still."

As the second half lacked Celestina Warbeck the sixth obliged with such pieces as 'My old man's a de-splincher' that went down very well with the younger members of the audience at least. And assorted Snapes did 'Walking in the air' whilst doing just that; Seagh being back from Russia to join in and having added mid-air Cossack dancing to his repertoire though not of course for this piece. Ransley Corbin tried to find out from Krait how it was done afterwards; and Krait, who detested him, smiled sweetly and became very technical to an arithmantic and transfigurational level beyond his comprehension. The which was made more irritating to him because he almost understood; and could comprehend enough to know that she was not making up any old rubbish as she went along.

It paid off a few scores over the man having been sanctimonious over Grace being a Corbin after Severus had taken her from her inadequate parents, and trying to use that to smarm around Lucius when Grace married Draco.

The cream of the evening for many Marauders was that they had caught Buckley Cooper in their engulfing charm; which meant that parents of current Marauders might be easy that they weren't about to go out catching dark wizards.

oOoOo

Next day was an exhibition match between Slytherin and Ravenclaw; it went on into the afternoon and Gorbrin cheerfully showing off by broomsurfing like any Malfoy show-off git, as Draco said on his way to collecting Buckley Cooper.

And when the end came it was unexpected; Gorbrin and Jack Murray were neck and neck; and there was a look passed between them and both reached for the snitch together, almost as much in accord as if they were blood joined. It was a wonderful end to an exhibition match!

The evening was rounded off by a dance; and Lucius and Draco equal to deal with the abortive attack on Tanjela, so Krait, Dione and Sirri just enjoyed dancing with their Severus at a dance NOT officiated over by them. It had been a reasonable two days and not as awful as Severus had pessimistically expected; with the public duly awe struck and respectful of those with the scar and not, on the whole, too pushy or importunate.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

It may be said that a lot of box lids were well filled with autographs when the children returned after the holidays and Victor spent much of his time at the train station shoving autograph-comparing children onto the train before he lost them. Apparently there had been much chagrin from Hogwarts pupils that they had not thought of it first and a concerted flurry from the same to collect their own autographs. Which was unlikely, said Evadne smugly, to be as successful as their own efforts because Professor Snape had managed to avoid being seen almost all the time. She had managed to purchase the autographed photographs of such as Harry Potter to add to her collection and had written out biographies accordingly; and had swelled with pride when Krait had told her that if she could be discreet and really was interested in biography, she should get a few secret lives as well because some things had happened that nobody liked to talk about but should, nonetheless, be recorded somewhere. Krait also hoped that learning the sort of choices people had to make in the real world might appeal to Evadne's innate common sense whilst eroding her tendency to priggishness; hearing about Madam Granger's occasionally unwilling participation in Harry and Ron's escapades had already given Evadne furiously to think.

It must also be said that a lot of pupils returned with a load of commemorative stuff of greater or lesser value.

Most of them had gone for signed photos, action dolls or figures, the 'Would-be dictator's guide to Dark Magic and Poisoning' a hilarious spoof that Victor too had bought a copy of; the odd commemorative mug and coloured guide books. The Lowther Twins had to be hustled onto the train still fencing with paper knives that were replicas of Gryffindor's sword and nobody had been caught out by the dodgy trader selling spurious locks of Tom Riddle's hair taken from the grave since all knew – Krait had made an illusion of him for them – that he was as hairless as a snake. Several of them sported transfer tattoos of the dark mark – some of the Marauders had been undertaking a bit of free enterprise of their own it seemed, since Victor knew that muggle transfer tattoos were mentioned in the Book of all Wickedness – and a few had dedicated wands to send up a facsimile of Morsemorde differing in enough ways – height and size for two – from the original that they were not likely to be in trouble for it. The other end of these dedicated wands cast the lumos spell through a plastic skull and so were novelty torches as well. Silly toys; but then most kids liked silly toys. And playing at killing Voldemort and deatheaters on the train might at that be more peaceful than listening to the previous term's musical craze of the farmyard saxophone mooing, bleating and clucking.

Victor shooed the lot of them on as they arrived in lordly indifference to their toys or acquisitions, relieved Gaius Paddock of 'Playwizard Special Ten Year After Edition' with witches chosen for their resemblances to such as Hermione and Krait and declared it confiscated until the end of the school year.

"And you should be ASHAMED of yourself!" scolded Victor "WHAT would Madams Granger and Malfoy say?"

"A great deal that I'd need a dictionary to unravel I expect" said Gaius cheerfully. "You don't think I should ask them to autograph it, do you?"

Victor Gibbsed him for that one!

oOoOo

Silvina was happy. She had met up with Jade over the holiday who had looked over the work she was doing both on the tune to resist the cruciatus curse and the music to add to the anti-elf-compulsion chant and had praised her newest little sister. Jade had also apologised for not realising that Silvina had as many problems as Fred and Flo, whom she had sorted out as a prefect; and Silvina had been quick to point out that if you don't realise you have problems it is hard for people to fix them for you. It was a tentative reaching towards being sisters; and the blood bond helped. But Jade truly admired Silvina's music writing talent, though she adjured the little girl to write for her own pleasure as well as with purpose, else she would feel as imprisoned by her music as she had previously been for not having it! Silvina thought Jade quite the wisest and most wonderful big sister anyone might have!

She had also come face to face with her real parents at the Celebration; they were there with her brothers and Celestina. And they had either all failed to recognise her or had agreed a policy to ignore her. She had learned enough, however, to think they had genuinely failed to recognise her; with the good clear air in Austria, a happier nature that added to her good health, and plenty of outside exercise on the high alpine pastures as well as just in the grounds of the school she glowed with a vitality that the pale, pasty, miserable Silvina of old did not; and as she hated dealing with the long lank hair that she did not care for properly, Krait had cut it for her into a short bob that gave her a pixie like gamine charm. And Silvina had not actually cared that they failed to know her; it meant that she was truly Silvina Snape now and nobody could try to make her be Silvina Brewer ever again! She had run to find her new parents and had hugged them all fiercely. She had already dropped a fluorescent fart jinx on both Brewer parents and Celestina; the boys she did not bother with, being utterly indifferent to them.

It may be said that the Brewers, having been embarrassed by having Silvina first expelled, then running away, then having an Auror ask questions about her – and not just any Auror but Mr Draco Malfoy – were glad to have been informed that their errant older daughter had been adopted, wished – mendaciously – any adopter joy of her, and promptly set about forgetting that they had ever had more than one daughter. Krait caught sight of the family fluorescing unconsciously and vowed quietly to herself that Silvina would one day have national acclaim at least as a musician even as Jade intended Godfrey to do. She was already planning a record of 'the magic flute of Godfrey Goodchild' once he had performed his first concert; and that was in train too. And one of the pieces he should play would be by Silvina. That would settle the hash of TWO sets of inadequate parents. Krait could be like that.

oOoOo

Julian, AHHa, the Jorkins twins and the Zorn twins converged on Silvina on the train.

"I say, Silvina, as you're blooded anyway and have had a chance to get used to it, we Marauders thought we ought to offer you the chance to Maraud with us" said AHHa, who was generally the spokesman. "Especially as you're doing the sort of research that really is the kind of stuff Marauders are supposed to do."

"IS it?" said Silvina "I thought Marauders were about getting into mischief but kinda making sure nobody was really nasty."

"That too" said AHHa. "The idea of getting into mischief is to hone our ability to work together, to learn to pull off japes that actually need research above our age group's normal ability and to practise covert stuff in case we ever have to go under cover like Jade did at Durmstrang and Sev did with Voldemort. You must be dead proud to have him as a dad."

"I am" said Silvina. "I didn't realise there was so much to marauders; I guess I just thought that the ones who were around at the time of Voldemort couldn't help but stick their noses in."

"Oh that too" said AHHa, grinning "But because they DID stick their noses in it changed the face of Marauding; that we're obliged to do all we can against dark magic and dark wizards, and with Odessa down we've less opportunity."

"Daddy says it's not dead in Russia and by the way I've seen more of Amarantha who used to be a not very nice girl here – do you remember her? She was in the upper sixth when we were weevils, 'cos I didn't remember her, but her husband was trying to get Odessa up and running again and daddy went and death duelled him" said Silvina.

"Crumbs! We missed all that!" said Albert in disgust "BAD marauding people – we ought to have spied on her more betterer!"

"Spill, our Silvina" said Granville.

Silvina told them all she knew – which was most of the story; and they whistled.

"I guess she doesn't like her baby much if he was made by rape" said Sandalla.

"Well she seems to love him and hate him sort of both at once" said Silvina wrinkling her brow "It's like…." She expressed it as she often did now in a whistled phrase that had joyous trills and a segue to a minor key. Julian nodded comprehension straight away.

"She loves him when he doesn't suddenly look a bit like his father you mean?" said Svetlana.

"Yes, I think that's about it" said Silvina "She – she wants to be part of his life; Daddy told her about how he and James Potter quarrelled, more than he put in the story for the school."

"It's in the book of all wickedness in the marauding room because we need to know to try to prevent similar things happening" said Julian. "Sev is awfully good to share it with other marauders. Are you, by the way? Going to Maraud with us?"

Silvina took a deep breath.

"If it's about serious stuff as well – yes I will" she said "I want to do what I can. And – and do Marauders try to stop misery generally too? 'Cos my birth parents aren't dark wizards – though my sister's trying to go about being as good a little deatheater as can be – but they aren't exactly conducive to making nice children."

"Oh Marauders interfere wherever they can to help out" said Sandalla "Because it's our duty and because we can't resist trying to straighten out other people. I guess one of the criteria for being a marauder is being comfortable enough with yourself to want to help others; if you're NOT comfortable with yourself, you don't want to, not genuinely and properly though you might be an interference."

"Sometimes our Sandy is that profound!" grinned AHHa. "She'd better tell you all her story then!"

Sandalla explained to the newest Marauder all about the magical country of Zorn where she had been born the only child of Prince Irun; and how Belsornia was once a part of it and was now a protected land of the wizarding world, muggles and all, because of the magical creatures there and the unplottable lands where international Quidditch was now played. And then she explained how Russian Odessa agents had kidnapped her and had Svetlana, a muggle, kidnapped to be tortured in her place rather than risk a delicate real hostage and how she had blooded with brave Svetlana to make her be her sister and that had led to the rest of the group being brought in with the other blooded as proper marauders, and Svetlana had gained magic by it and had been adopted by Prince Irun.

"Crumbs!" said Silvina "That makes you one special person, Sandalla; there can't be many princesses who are only children who'd be that generous to share."

"She's the most special person in the world" said Svetlana. "And I try to live up to her. And to protect my new and wonderful land from Odessa and from muggles who want to conquer places."

"The people in Zorn are so nice it kind of makes your hair bleed in frustration at times though" said AHHa "It's a great place to holiday but I shouldn't like to live there! Me, I like living in interesting times!"

"Marauders are supposed to" said Granville "I guess it'd be nice for ordinary people. I think there are negotiations going on for the Zornians to take selected patients from the Janus Thickey ward for a time to see if the calm and nice atmosphere doesn't improve them."

"That's a nice idea" said Silvina "Madam Burke's mother is in there because she couldn't cope with life when her husband was arrested. I should have thought a grown up ought to cope for the sake of her children 'cos the boys weren't even at school then; but I s'pose not everyone can manage being proper parents."

"Yes, we're all very lucky" said Julian "The next marauders up, the Muggle Marauders, they have some parent problems between them. And your dad terrorised the ones that couldn't cope with Randolph being a wizard so he got to keep coming to school. He's awfully good at terrorising people."

"I know!" said Silvina, having been once on the receiving end of that!

Life, she thought, was very good; even with the thought that she had pledged to fight dark wizards by being a Marauder!

After all as the daughter of Severus Snape, there was no guarantee she would be safe from Dark Wizards; indeed it was likely she'd be a target. And she would rather fight back than be passive!

oOoOo

The rest of the journey was spent discussing how to celebrate having a new Marauder on the team and what sort of jape to pull in celebration.

They decided to use Silvina's piece of music about alpine meadows as a basis and added a summoning chant to it to summon flowers and decided – incongruously – to duly enchant the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom so that anyone in the room was showered gently with orchids and daisies and pinks, which were the ones they managed to recognise.

It was a sufficiently successful enchantment that it did not readily wear off; and though Erich was himself a rather good curse breaker, since it was not by nature a curse he managed only to reduce the amount of summoned flowers. And as the scent from them was pleasant, and they dissipated before they started to smell of dead weeds, he gave up and let the ceiling rain flowers from time to time while the enchantment slowly ran down.

oOoOo

Before the exams a quidditch fixture had been made with Beauxbatons and Hellibore's; again only the first teams of each. Hellibore's team was still all boys; though he had opened the school to girls in their separate wing this was really only first year girls as yet, and a few who had been withdrawn from Prince Peak; and Miranda Potts, returning to school for a NEWT year and actually good at Quidditch, was expressly forbidden by her parents to play.

"And the kid is going to run off as soon as she has finished school, fly herself crazy to hone her skills and try to get onto a professional team" said Engelbert Hellibore.

"Yes; she was devastated when her parents withdrew her just because she eulogised about Quidditch" said Severus "I was very sorry for the girl. What fools parents can be! I've no patience with such silliness!"

"Nor I, Severus; but I can't jeopardise my reputation for keeping the girls as little ladies by flouting the wishes of the parents in that. Perhaps you could engage in the casuistry of getting a few of your people who have contacts to talk to her; she's along with our team cheerers. They can scarcely object to school spirit."

Severus nodded; he would get Ron to write her an introduction to the Chuddleigh Cannons, whose youth team he still coached in the holidays for fun. Miss Potts had a lot of potential, though she was a little inclined to be right rather aggressively as he recalled. Older team players should squash THAT however!

Hellibores played Beauxbatons first; it was a close run thing and the English school won by snatching the snitch to rack up a score of three hundred and seventy against three hundred.

Prince Peak played with a professionalism that had been honed against two professional teams; and creamed Beauxbatons thoroughly – final score six hundred and ninety against two hundred and ten – and called a halt to the match against Hellibores when Arbrek and the Hellibore seeker, a gangling youth more intrigued by a goblin seeker than shocked, managed to fly full tilt into each other in pursuit of the snitch and knock each other out. There was no question of blatching, flying with intent to collide; both Ron and even the Hellibore games master agreed that neither boy had eyes for anything but the snitch and it was an unfortunate occurrence. As Prince Peak were one hundred and eighty points up on Hellibore's anyway, the victory would have gone to the Peak whoever had caught the snitch; and it was decided to send the groggy boys to lie down quietly for an hour after headache potion was administered rather than play on. To entertain the visitors, Prince Peak put on an exhibition match between their staff and the second team, playing Viktor Krumm as seeker of course, Ron as Keeper, David Fraser and Byron Beckard as beaters, Severus, Krait and Erich as chasers.

There was also a scratch match of cricket going on, run by Lee and Dimsie and some of the Hellibore's boys were definitely interested.

It was a fun weekend; and Arbek ended up firm friends with the Hellibore Seeker, a lad called Beowulf Langstaffe, a cousin of Crow; and Beowulf was amazed to find that his snotty cousin Engelram had acquired a nickname and friends and was a perfectly reasonable person.

Solange was of course much in use as an interpreter and was viewed by the French students with a mixture of disapprobation that she had chosen to come to a school that was not French and awe that she prattled happily of studies that were as complex for her as a first year as some of the fifth and sixth form quidditch team were used to. As Geomancy was taught only in the sixth form alongside apparating lessons in the French school and as Severus demanded a higher standard of Arithmancy than anywhere else, Hogwarts included, this was scarcely surprising, even though Solange was herself poor at Arithmancy. The extra lessons she had been having with Germaine and Conrad had helped; Krait was very good at breaking Arithmancy down into chunks that, as Ron put it, even he could understand. Ron actually sat in on some of Krait's remedial Arithmancy classes; he had no desire to be an arithmancer but he did like the idea of not being quite so ignorant about his wife's favourite subject and as he said, nobody ought to be taught emotive subjects like flying a broom or Arithmancy by their lover.

oOoOo

The weekend finished with a feast and a dance; Severus felt that if there was a desire for good will, that should be promoted on all levels. Besides it gave some spare boys for his monstrous regiment of not yet women. No formal partners were picked as at the Yule Ball; boys and girls danced the first dance by drawing a slip of paper, blue for boys and pink for girls, that had a number on it; and had to find their opposite number.

It broke the ice quite well with much giggling – on the part of the girls – and lugubrious resignation on the part of the boys. The Beauxbatons youngsters danced fairly well, as did the youth of Prince Peak; it may be said that the Hellibore's boys and the two girls who were part of their supporters danced with two left feet.

Hellibore was planning on getting a dancing master as part of his lessons in skills of etiquette and social usage; but he was still consolidating actually having girls. And to date the only dancing masters he had interviewed had been, as he told Severus gloomily rather unsatisfactory.

"One was the sort I'd not trust with the boys and the other was a devastatingly handsome young man whose effect on the girls would have been too dangerous for him" he said.

"You could do worse than a muggle with magical relatives" suggested Severus "Muggles dance the same dances we do; if you can find the relative of a muggle born who dances well enough to teach that's another possibility. I got drilled well enough at Hogwarts that I do my own teaching, with Krait as assistant to er, manipulate the girls if they need it. And if I were you a dancing mistress might be better; less likely to cause trouble with the girls and actually more likely to make the boys less against the idea if she's pretty enough. A woman grown should be able to deal with juvenile wandering hand problem."

Hellibore brightened.

"You have such excellent ideas Severus" he said enviously.

Severus shrugged.

"Trained to think on my feet against other dark creatures then juveniles" he said laconically.

oOoOo

The next piece of excitement was when Prince Peak's own Godfrey Goodchild had a concert on the Wizarding Wireless. Krait had sent some recordings of him that she had made and suggested that they might like to feature him. Seagh, who had no interest in playing in public for fame, had immediately volunteered to accompany his friend on harp and a nervous Godfrey had been firmly bullied by Krait – in lieu, she told him, of her daughter Jade – into putting together a program for the brief half hour introductory concert that the Wizarding Wireless often used to introduce new musicians.

'Walking in the air' was a no-brainer; 'Magic at Midnight' was a perennially popular piece dating from the 1920's that was something of a blues piece by a wizard called Anaxenor Cleff; a motet by a sixteenth century wizard long forgotten reset by the whole music team, and to be accompanied too by the Broomstick Boys using wordless voice to add the canons; 'Bheir me ó'; and finishing with a piece by Silvina called 'Above the Snow' inspired by the way the Horn of Prinzhorn rose right above the weather. It was a short piece but beautifully sculpted and evocative; and the haunting little tune sat perfectly on the flute.

Finding that the writer was a pupil at Prince Peak, the Wizarding Wireless presenter had asked if the young girl would not be playing her own piece. Severus had replied that it was school policy not to thrust their children's talents too much into the limelight since this was too stressful for growing youths, but that the piece was too fine to be left out of Professor Goodchild's repertoire.

It had caused Sara some jealous qualms. However, Silvina had asked Sara to look over it with her to check it really was good enough for Professor Goodchild; and Sara, who was skilled musically but would not have known how to begin to craft a tune, was glad to do so to highlight her beloved Godfrey; and acknowledged that Silvina was not chasing him and had been thoroughly taken aback when the Head had suggested Godfrey including that piece. And as they worked on it, Godfrey had come in, winked at them both and said cheerfully how like Krait it was, er, Madam Malfoy he meant, to cock a snoot at two sets of difficult parents in one short concert.

"Is that why it was chosen? Not because it's good enough on its own merits?" said Silvina.

"Oh it's way good enough on its own merits" said Godfrey "Only the Head might have put his foot down about embarrassing any young composer by playing a piece in public if he didn't want to hoist a variety of fingers at your parents too."

"HE'S my dad and Krait, Dione and Sirri are my mums" said Silvina firmly.

"All right; he wants to hoist fingers at the Brewers. Consider the comment suitably modified" said Godfrey cheerfully "And on a show listened to by the relatively highbrow too; they might even be listening. Reckon even they can't be stupid enough to miss who 'fourteen year old Silvina' is. I look forward by the way, Sara, to having you join me to play on some of those more tricky motets; I thought I'd ask Krait to let you play on the recorded version. You play so well when we play together; we really complement each other."

Sara blushed furiously.

She DID play particularly well when playing with Godfrey; as he had noticed. And he liked Sara; if they liked each other as well when she grew up it was well to make sure she did not feel neglected for Silvina's extraordinary talent. Silvina was a good kid; but too intense for Godfrey!

"I wasn't planning on performing of course" said Sara "But that was because I was thinking about it being like my Uncle Heathcote in the 'Weird Sisters'. Playing classics with you is sort of different."

"The odd concert appearance and record pays a few bills but shouldn't interfere with the serious things in life – our research – like being part of a popular group would" said Godfrey. "Frankly, having a Professor's pay AND the chance to research fills me with delight; anything extra from concerts just fulfils the desire I have to play for a wider audience, the exhibitionist in me I suppose, and brings in pocket money. And cutting records also helps line the Snapes' pockets; and I owe everything to them for wangling me so much."

Sara grinned.

"Jade did a great job on Lucius Malfoy" she said "From what I've heard; AND making your older twin sibs look daft."

"Not as much as the Malfoy twins did" chuckled Godfrey "They are talented – only they don't really care to use it save for fun, and as they do use it for the entertainment of others too I've nothing against that! Chloe and Terence did the 'Flower Duet' on flute and fiddle; and the twins, whistling and on harmonica and with voice did that thing with two cats mewing; with a musical interlude and a VERY clever pastiche on the Delibes thing. Loved it!"

oOoOo

The whole school was permitted to sit up to listen to the concert; the first and second having been sent to get into pyjamas and clean teeth before returning to the great hall to listen.

There was a spontaneous cheer as Godfrey Goodchild was announced; and the school listened spellbound to the tune that had become very much a signature of the musical Snapes; and applauded thunderously when the first number was over.

The concert had a brief series of interviews as well; and Godfrey answered with aplomb that he had been educated at Hogwarts school in Slytherin House and was very grateful first to Jade and Seagh Snape – the latter being his accompanist here – who had loaned him instruments as his parents could only afford instruments for his two oldest siblings; and second to Lucius Malfoy who had provided him with a music scholarship to a music teacher. He explained that he wanted to dedicate 'Walking in the Air' to all the Snapes as it was a popular piece of theirs. And the next piece was dedicated to Lucius because it was complex like any Malfoy, he had added; and thanks too to the Broomstick Boys kind enough to be part of the accompaniment as well as working beside him in research into music in magic. This was the motet. Next he played 'Magic at Midnight' explaining that Jade had taught him to like jazz and the blues; and spoke about how he was able to pay for a place in post NEWT education by teaching music to the highly talented children of Prince Peak; and the pleasure of developing such able young musicians would be a privilege even without the opportunities to do research. He played 'Bheir me ó' next and then answered questions about the research that was going on; that whilst some talented musicians used music instead of chanting, there were things that could be done with music that could not be done as easily by chanting and Professor Snape was hoping to cover too such things as the hypnotic song of the Veeli in the new magical study of music. And, he added, he would like to finish with a piece by one of the highly talented students of Prince Peak, a child of fourteen named Silvina who was now an adopted child of the Snapes.

It was the first time the school had heard 'Above the Snow' – at least in its entirety; portions had emitted intermittently from Silvina when musing on it – and they were ready to applaud. Having a resident genius who did not put on airs about it was something to boast about as AHHa put it.

And that was something of a sore point for Hogwarts, as Albert pointed out, having had all that brouhaha over Amos Leroy.

"The Caterwauling Crow is a victim as much as a culprit" said Darryl Zabini overhearing that comment "Poor little sod, doted on by a drippy mother and exploited by a hard faced aunt. And don't pull those faces young Angel Hallow-Hellibore; because I was accused of the crime he got sacked for by some dippy kid in the first and enough people decided to believe her hearsay so-called evidence that led to a lot of unpleasantness. Actually, asking for legilimensy to be cleared led ultimately to unlocking my memories about my dad's death that got ME in the press so I have in many ways every reason to resent him more than most. But I don't; I'm sorry for him. He had no idea of consequences. I hear he's in correspondence with Gorbrin Malfoy-Tobak right now – Gorbrin's a friend of mine – so hopefully he's starting to learn a bit about real life. At least by all accounts Chrysogon Rufus is decent enough and yes I DID choose the cadence with malice aforethought."

The youngsters laughed.

"Some of us half wondered if he'd end up here being supposedly so artistic" said Crow Langstaffe.

"I gather he did not think that a small school would have as much scope for original and artistic mischief" said Darryl dryly "He's a Marauder of their newest generation; with our Glorious Head Boy, may he live forever!'s little brother."

"You can tell he's doing Ancient Runes NEWT" said Victor "All those formulaic phrases the Ancient Egyptians were so fond of; give his spirit thousands prep and potions."

Darryl laughed.

"Oh well, it comes in for chanting" he said. "NOT being musical; though I know enough to know that Godders – er, I mean Professor Goodchild – is really something out of the ordinary. Victor and I are NOT going to give you stories about what he was like when we were at Hogwarts with him either; he is a respectable professor and we shall now make noises like hoops and roll away to laugh uncontrollably about that last comment."

"Fool" said Victor affectionately "He never was one of the crazy elements; left that to the selection of Black-Weasleys, Changs and Snapes."

The smaller ones were now being shooed away to bed by the prefects chatting happily about how nice it was that one of their professors was now famous for something different than killing Voldemort and Evadne announcing that now she could legitimately photograph Professor Goodchild and get his autograph and biography. Of the youngest ones only Solange and Siegfried had any real idea of just how good Godfrey was; but they were all pleased that he had managed to play pieces that were not, on the whole, too highbrow and incomprehensible; and the fans of the Broomstick Boys may have been a little doubtful about the idea of motets as part of their heroes' repertoire but anything THEY did must be good so perhaps they had better listen to motets in future.

As Severus said, it was a start; and at least, even if not singing motets as a common thing, they were to have the application of a bit of skill, if not class, from the pens of Chad and Mad in their future hits. And that would mean a new album to be released before next Christmas that would include, the musicians confessed, the Cauldron Monster Song because it was fun and anyone who had ever been taught by Severus ought to be chortling over it.

And if there was a bit more chatter than usual and children were slow to get to sleep, well any who remained dopey in class the next day were doomed to get an impot, for the staff had agreed that a treat was no reason to be over excited. And the reason they had been sent to get into pyjamas first was to avoid such over tiredness.

When Solange answered dreamily in class that a chord was a harmony of toning notes within a particular key in answer to being asked to define a charm as part of end of year revision work she found herself writing out 'who is Sylvia, what is she' as being, Madam Parnassus said, the dippiest poem she could think of for the dippiest girl in the class.

oOoOo

The Bee Marauders, being affronted that Chrysogon Rufus had rejected Prince Peak on grounds that there was more mischief to be had at a large school entertained the school by cursing a section of floorboard to impart the honkey tonk twinkle toes curse to anyone who walked over it and sounds of shoes playing 'Ain't Misbehaving' – a beautiful irony they thought – were heard across the castle.

"If ONLY we knew how to drop a delayed action on it they'd never have worked out what section of floor to decurse so soon" mourned Yrdl as Severus quickly de-honkey-tonked the offending floorboard.

The Bee Marauders were set the impot of writing a life of a jazz musician of their choice, seven inches, by Friday.

It was well worth it.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Severus and Krait only regretted that they could not be flies on the walls in the Goodchild and Brewer households.

In the former, the program, 'Featuring Musicians' was listened to by the Goodchild twins who liked to know who was likely to be the next popular classical musician so they knew who to admire. Amos Leroy had come to the public notice via this medium when he was seven years old; and when he was actually still singing songs suitable to his years rather than the clever but not always tuneful opera written especially to showcase his range without taking artistry into account. The twins listened in some shock to the announcement that the featured musician was called Godfrey Goodchild; and decided right away that the name was a coincidence.

By the time the interview made it plain that the name was NOT a coincidence – that was Godfrey's voice, and he spoke of only his oldest siblings being able to be afforded instruments – the twins were incandescent with fury.

Then Mrs Goodchild said,

"Well goodness me, fancy the wireless thinking little Godfrey is actually good enough to play on air! A little presumptuous of him but he does sound presentable!"

The twins knew enough to know he was more than presentable and were in a towering rage.

"Why, they must be idiots!" said Mr Goodchild "To feature Godfrey and never to have given a break to our truly musical twins! We'll go up to town tomorrow and show them what the best Goodchilds are like!"

The twins were eager to show Godfrey up; but Terence at least knew neither of them were in Godfrey's league.

"He IS better than us, dad" he ventured.

"Nonsense!" said Mr Goodchild "You've had lessons since you were much younger than when he started fooling around on a borrowed instrument of some idiot schoolgirl who has no sense but to let another try to spoil it."

"Jade Snape is a fantastic musician" said Terence "It's a shame she never performed in public; I'd pay to hear her live. Her whole family are musical. I don't think they know how musical they are because it's just part of their life" in which summation he was totally correct and unwontedly honest with himself.

Mr Goodchild refused to believe that their younger son could possibly manage to surpass the twins; after all he had gone without to PAY for them to have lessons; and duly carted the pair to the offices of the Wizarding Wireless.

After an audition, when they were told they might earn pay as occasional accompanists, Mr Goodchild hit the roof, demanding to know how they dared present his idiot younger son Godfrey and then refuse to do the same to his more talented siblings.

He was told in short order that Godfrey Goodchild was the truly talented one, and he should be proud of such an extraordinary son but that the older two were musical enough but not….. well nothing out of the ordinary. And when he blustered about having paid for them and Godfrey only picking up stuff by fiddling about with friends' instruments was told that if the boy's talent had been so criminally neglected by his parents, then it proved his genius that he should learn so well without proper lessons.

Mr Goodchild stormed out with a tearful and hysterical Chloe; Terence paused long enough to say 'thank you' and 'sorry about the scene'; he had been growing up a lot.

And Terence managed to write to Godfrey congratulating him on his success without eating too much gall and wormwood as he did so.

Besides, Godfrey knew all the right people; and if he was teaching at a former girls' school of wealthy pupils there might be the chance to wangle a few introductions and a rich wife. Terence hated being poor and he knew by now that he did not have enough talent to make it rich by his music; so a wealthy wife was the best idea to hold out for. The Goodchilds were good family after all, if poor.

oOoOo

Meanwhile the Brewers had missed the broadcast and had to be filled in by a nosy neighbour asking if the delightful young composer Silvina aged fourteen was indeed their daughter.

They answered angrily that they had no idea what the neighbour was talking about; that they had always discouraged Silvina from wasting her time with such twaddle and that as she had chosen to run away she was no daughter of theirs anyway, telling lies as she had about poor little Celestina.

The Neighbour, who knew Celestina and wished she did not, smiled brightly and asked if Silvina had then refused to say what a cruel unpleasant child Celestina was in mistaken belief that it was right to shield her before she got into serious trouble; and Mrs Brewer's voice soared high above the notes Amos Leroy ever reached but even less tunefully.

The nosy neighbour promptly wrote to Silvina and told her to make sure she had a good agent who would tie everything up nice and tight so her parents would not end up the financial beneficiaries of her undoubted talent as well as congratulating her on a pretty yet sophisticated piece of music that one found oneself humming all the next day.

Silvina read the letter in some astonishment and took it to Severus.

"They can't take it can they? If I do ever make money?" she asked.

"When. Not if" said Severus "You get a small fee for agreeing to have your piece played in public; didn't I tell you? We've set up an account in Gringotts for your professional fees. That way you don't get any hassle over tax until you're old enough to pay it; Gringotts will see to that. You get the benefit of belonging to a wealthy family but it's always nice to be a bit independent too even if you only use it for purchasing illicit potion supplies because of my well-known views of stealing from my dungeon."

Silvina grinned.

"I doubt I'm ever going to be good enough to make it worth while" she said "But I take the point. CAN they make me hand it over?"

"How can they?" said Severus "They're no relatives of yours; they renounced claim to you when you ran away. In front of an Auror. Then they signed papers to give you up too; and I legally adopted you as my daughter. These Brewers have nothing to do with Silvina Snape."

Silvina brightened.

"They don't have any claim on me from before you adopted me do they?" she asked "For my early pieces if I rework them?"

"I think you'll find they already renounced you by then" said Severus. "And you were already my ward. Besides, if you change anything, it becomes your intellectual property from when you change it. And besides, I can afford better quaestors than they can" and he winked at her.

Silvina hugged him.

She then went and wrote back to the Nosy Neighbour thanking her for her congratulations and telling her how much she was enjoying a proper musical education, and how to use music in magic too; and telling her that as she had been legally adopted since the Brewers had given her up entirely they had no claim on her intellectual property. She signed it 'Silvina Snape' and enjoyed doing so; and added a PS to the effect that her new dad and mum were connected to enough powerful people that they could protect her every which way to Sunday and it was great to have parents who cared about you and who you could love and respect.

The nosy neighbour raised a slight eyebrow over that; not merely at the indictment of the Brewers but as one who had been to school with a boy once known as Snivellus Snape who had not been the paradigm of a potentially loving parent; but then, Silvina had been a spoilt brat in some respects who now wrote with perfect civility and friendliness; so people did change. And the great Harry Potter had spoken warmly of the help he had received from Severus, his foster father as well as Sirius his Godfather; and Sirius Black had been no paragon at school either. Indeed the nosy neighbour had laughed more over HIS appellation as Starriest Crack on the Convolvumort broadcasts than over anything else. Well, with such contacts, Severus Snape really COULD protect the child; and if that silly piece Cerulina Speedwell Brewer said anything to HER, she would take great delight in pointing out that fact!

oOoOo

Silvina's celebration piece involved organising the musical juniors into a band to play a piece she called 'Stuff you, you silly moos' written solely for farmyard saxophones. It was thoroughly silly and she enjoyed it no end.

It was by way of a catharsis and a final separation from her parents; that overcame all the negative thoughts meeting them unexpectedly at the Celebration had brought up to her mind.

Godfrey meanwhile read Terence's letter, read between the lines about his brother's likely hanging out for a rich wife; and laughed indulgently. Terence did not change in some respects! But in the more profound respects it was decent of his elder brother to swallow pride and mortification over Godfrey becoming mildly famous to congratulate him. A few years ago, Terence was one with Chloe in refusing to accept that Godfrey had any real ability and trying to shut his eyes to Lucius having sponsored his music training; after all, what could Lucius, a mere Slytherin, know. That Godfrey had chosen to be hatted into Slytherin not the family's traditional Ravenclaw was also a bone of contention; Godfrey having chosen purely to be with the wonderful girl Jade Snape who offered him use of her flute and lessons. And he had been in with a jolly bunch too; whereas in Ravenclaw only Mei Chang had been anything but dull. And he had friends for life from it; Seagh and Jade, Harmony – now married to Percy Weasley; Victor, expelled and now a year below his chronological age but a different boy and ready to be friendly; Dimsie Burke who had not been so jolly at first; and out of this school Grigs Havelock and Heather Burns of Lionel Dell's set, Jade's cousin Aurelia Yaxley and his special friend Gerald Purbeck, the muggle born boy who was now working as a medical transfigurationist at St Mungo's and was working with a Healer Visick whose twin children were at school in Prince Peak, the healers investigating the judicious use of muggle techniques alongside magic. Gerry Purbeck was more sceptical about muggle techniques than his almost pure blood supervisor; but then, muggle medicine had failed Gerry and only St Mungo's had saved his life. And good perhaps to have an enthusiast and a sceptic working together, even if it seemed a paradox over which was which!

Godfrey wrote back to Terence thanking him; and saying that it would be nice to play together as brothers some time. It WOULD be nice. He also wrote that perhaps they might meet up some time just for a chat now they were both grown up and over any childhood rivalries. It was a slightly awkward note; as Terence's had been to him. But Godfrey did not want to hold grudges if Terence was prepared to meet him half way; and it was scarcely Terence's fault that mum and dad had told him and Chloe that they were the best. And a harder lesson to learn if Terence was ever told that Godfrey was better than him and if he did not realise it for himself. Godfrey of course did NOT know that Wizarding Wireless had already disillusioned the older Goodchilds about any brilliance they might have believed in; but as Terence had worked it out for himself the older Goodchild had taken it less hard than Chloe who was more convinced of her own genius than him.

And actually when Terence received the letter he determined to practice harder to be worthy of playing with his talented brother, even if it was only for personal satisfaction and not in public. Music meant enough to Terence to be honest about that whatever it cost him.

oOoOo

As it happened, the Brewers wrote to Wizarding Wireless and told them that as the parents of the fourteen year old Silvina whose music had been featured they were most displeased as they had not been approached for permission and hinted that a lawsuit might be in the offing without a financial settlement.

This somewhat confused the directors of Wizarding Wireless; who wrote back that the Brewers were mistaken; since their surname was not the same as that of the young composer, and if they had a daughter called Silvina in the Prince Peak Academy, this was a coincidence; for they had been granted permission by the child's parents both of whom taught at the academy. The unspoken comment 'go sue and be damned to you' was left in the air. So far as the Wizarding Wireless directors knew, Silvina was another of the ubiquitous Snape children. And lucky for the child to have a talent of her own with so famous a sister as Jade Snape at that. Naturally they did NOT mention Silvina's surname to these importunate people who might be just anyone; and even fishing for information for some nefarious purpose. And under due consideration the company quaestor passed the Brewers' letter to the Auror Office in case it was some elaborate forerunner to kidnap or fraud. Alastor Moody's encyclopaedic knowledge and elephantine memory connected the name with parents who had disowned a child who was now one of Severus' extensive brood – really, Severus was a glutton for punishment – and had no rights to the said child. He sent Draco to drop a word to the wise.

oOo

"Look here Brewer; you disowned Silvina and signed her away for adoption" said Draco bluntly "Which Wizarding Wireless has no idea about; but you cannot suddenly decide that because Silvina's in to make a small fortune out of her skills that you've changed your mind. She is legally adopted; and any attempts to gain remuneration now she's as you might say a saleable commodity is tantamount to fraud."

"It was nothing of the kind!" Brewer blustered, angered at not being given an honorific 'Mr' but feeling unable to complain to a Malfoy. "I was merely concerned that the girl was likely to drag our name into some vulgarity with her ridiculous twiddling!"

"Now that HAS to be an untruth when nobody could possibly call the fine music that child writes as 'twiddling'!" said Draco "Her music will be the classics of tomorrow as anyone with any knowledge can see; of course I've had musical training since I could walk; it is sort of obligatory for our class, isn't it? But I learned a bit more than just playing when I was learning chanting with Severus Snape when we were fighting Voldemort and I know enough to realise she is talented and to spare! So don't give me that guff about vulgarity as though she was writing the sort of tripe the Broomstick Boys have been turning out until they got good writers!"

Draco knew fine well that Brewer did believe half of what he said; but was lying about not being interested in the money. He was most pleased to get in the dig about their class of people learning music; and to remind them that he had personally fought Voldemort. It drove home what and who he was rather well.

Mr and Mrs Brewer goggled in incomprehension.

"You mean you consider it RESPECTABLE?" said Mrs Brewer. "And profitable in a respectable way?"

"More than respectable; laudable" said Draco. "I shall be learning from her too as I understand she's done some original academic research into the use of music in magic too. Remarkable girl. I understand she's blossomed since she escaped the oppressive influence of your repellent youngest brat; still certain you don't want that one checked for curses? You'll find getting her into a school pretty hard if you don't."

This was a sore point; the Brewers had applied to Hogwarts and had a polite refusal to take the girl from Dumbledore on the grounds that he had taught too many would-be deatheaters; and though he was retiring, he suggested that they not approach his successor who had heard of their daughter.

Englebert Hellibore had also written politely that as having girls was a new departure for him he only wished to take young ladies not ill-conditioned brats as he had been warned that Celestina Brewer was. Madam Maxime of Beauxbatons had been no more helpful and had suggested Durmstrang; and there was no way they were going to send their precious darling to the free school amongst guttersnipes and goblins. Even if they would have her; and the snide comment that Draco had made that the free school had at worst pickpockets and sneak thieves and did not want to lower the tone of the place was burningly embarrassing. Obviously they would not send her to that awful man at Prince Peak – and that Silvina chose to return there must PROVE she was deficient – and that left little choice.

They had written to Durmstrang; it was at least an education.

And the shock of receiving an owl by return of mail from Madam Agata Bacsó refusing to take a child who was by all accounts untrainable, at the most charitable assessment cursed and at less kindly view merely a brat, was a shock. Agata wrote that she had had quite enough of Odessa-ripe children who thought they were owed the earth; which was hard enough to swallow in pure bloods but even worse in such of dubious blood status as unknown and nameless English families. And this level of blood snobbery was a shock to a family who were essentially blood snobs.

Celestina would have to have a tutor; and they would have to look further than Madam Olive McMillan who had taught Silvina; Madam McMillan declined to return to the household for the younger Brewer girl on the grounds that miracles were beyond her.

Several other governesses also turned down the post, some without reason and one writing bluntly that she had once met the Brewers. It was very frustrating! And now that inadequate girl Silvina was making MONEY out of something as silly as music and was considered something clever by so great an arbiter of taste as Draco Malfoy! They would have to keep that from poor little Celestina; she would demand her share of what Silvina made, and who could blame her? All this Draco read in their faces; and sighed to himself that they could be so blind and foolish. And they would not be told!

He reiterated a warning that any attempts to profit from Silvina would be open to lawsuit for fraud; and left them to their miserable life and revolting little girl.

oOoOo

Back in Prince Peak the exams were looming upon the students; and the NEWT students particularly were feeling a little hollow inside because this meant that after that term they would no longer be at school but must make their way in the world. They had all had careers counselling from Krait and Severus; which was easier for some than for others.

Helga planned to marry Stoyann Krumm and raise babies as a career; though she planned to work for a year in the crèche in Obscura Alley first. Ulrich planned to take Vehmgericht training and maybe enter politics later in life once he had proved himself. Victor, taking most NEWTs of all was at something of a loss.

"You're such a rock to me, Severus, I don't want to leave" he had said with a rueful laugh.

"Then stay on with my blessing and do research; and perhaps you'll feel like staying to eventually teach the post NEWT students as a special tutor" said Severus. "Or perhaps you'll feel like teaching Geomancy; though I prefer not to have you straight back as a teacher. Maybe you'll found a new school. There's no hurry."

"I'm already a year too old really" said Victor "I ought to shift to do something; I'm not stupid."

"No lad; but if you want to research and need more time to find yourself I have no objection" said Severus "You've made good; but there's a lot of bad things still to deal with in your life. I appreciate that. Those of us who hose up and make fools of ourselves have to do more thinking than others."

"Then I shall defer the decision by research; thank you sir" said Victor simply.

Miles Grant was another easy one; he was going to play quidditch for a few years – he had been scouted – and then teach like his brother in Hellibore's. Gaius Paddock was hoping for a post in the quaestorium if he qualified for the training. He was taking five NEWTs including DADA so there was every probability that he would. Lily Smethley wanted to be a healer; she was taking Charms, Potions and Transfigurations, perfect NEWTs for a would be healer of all round skill. She wanted to place her skills at the disposal of some deprived community which had Severus blinking slightly and wondering how so gentle and shy a girl was likely to cope. He tried to warn her about this; whilst saying that if she succeeded he would be proud beyond all measure of her. Shy Lily flushed and determined that NO obstacle would stop her!

Elsie Willis, the class swot – if one did not count the boys – was determined to be an Auror. She said that she would never even have had the chance to take as many NEWTs without the arrival of Severus at Prince Peak – which was true enough – and as she was good enough to get the grades if nothing went wrong with her exams, she owed it to him to be as good as she could be and to use her excellent education pro bono publico. And if she found it too much, then after a year or so she might then take experience as well as brains into the quaestorium.

One might trust Elsie to do something laudable but the poor girl made one feel that laudable was a somehow derogatory word.

Leticia Villeneuve had opened painted eyes wide and murmured that one did not NEED a career when one's parents had been kind enough to arrange an advantageous marriage.

Severus had felt moved to warn Leticia's little sister that if she did NOT want an advantageous marriage arranged, he would do his best to protect her from it. Cecilia had hugged him firmly and told him that she could probably get rid of any prospective suitors well enough with the aid of her twin but that he was a poppet to think of it and she would not forget.

Severus trusted the Villeneuve twins to get rid of any prospective suitors efficiently. They were hangers on of BaHH's group of Marauders and small imps of mischief; and an entirely different proposition to Leticia!

The Tugwood twins concerned Severus – on so many levels. He felt that Amy hung rather on Ellen's neck; and said so bluntly to Ellen when he had her separated from her twin. He pointed out that as Ellen was doing Care of Magical Beasts and Amy loathed large animals that Ellen should seek employment in that sector, at least initially.

"Mother will never countenance me being a groom or a dragon handler" said Ellen.

"Well there's a lot more to Care of Beasts than those two jobs" said Severus dryly. "There are jobs in the Beast Office in the Ministry of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures; I can see your mother not liking pest control, but an inspectorate perhaps? Or what about working with the team who are filming magical animals for Wizarding Wireless Vision? I have a courtesy cousin involved in that and I can probably get you a job in that, travelling the world tracking and taking footage of wild animals."

Ellen brightened.

"That sounds fun!" she said "Amy won't like it; she hates the great outdoors generally. I don't think she'd want to come along."

"Just as well; I wasn't planning on offering HER an introduction" said Severus "You NEED to learn how to be Ellen and stop running around like Amy's shadow. You're not doing HER any favours either you know; making her dependant on you is weakening for her character."

That was a new thought for Ellen.

"Then I guess I had better separate myself from her; at least for a while" she said. "Amy wants to work in a beautician's like Madam Primpernelle's in Diagon Alley; it would kill me inside to work alongside her."

"And I suppose she cries at you and says that if you don't it will just kill her and asks how you can be so selfish?" said Severus dryly.

"How did you KNOW sir?" asked Ellen.

"Because she is the selfish one; and I've seen it often enough" said Severus cynically. "Those who accuse others of selfishness for not falling in with their plans are usually the selfish ones. And if she doesn't grow up and learn to get over it, she'll end up with lines on her face of discontent and will make herself unmarriageable –which I guess is her epitome of success. You are the strong one; and for her sake as much as yours you MUST break away. You already resent her; you do NOT want to learn to hate her. As you will if she tramples on your ambitions."

Ellen nodded.

"I will sir" she said "Dad thinks we spend too much time doing things together; I'll get him to help."

"Good girl" said Severus .

Next he had seen Amy.

"Ellen says you wish to be a beautician" said Severus.

"Yes, we do" said Amy.

"Beg pardon? You suddenly became royal to use the term 'we'? I am discussing YOUR career with you Amy; nobody else's."

"Well Ellen will want to do what I want to do."

"Amy, that is as ridiculous as saying that you will want to do what Ellen wants to do; you don't even like animals, making a career as a wildlife reporter is not, I think what you want."

"But she MUST do what I want to do! I CAN'T work with animals, they scare me! So SHE'LL have to change!" Amy sounded half hysterical.

"Are you really such a little coward and such a little fool that you need your sister to hold your hand?" said Severus brutally "What happens if one of you falls in love? You're hardly likely to want to share the same man – even if he wanted both of you. And what are you going to do if you get pregnant? You can't demand that Ellen has your baby for you or with you. Now stop acting like a four year old and face the fact that if you stop Ellen having a life of her own she's going to end up actually hating you for spoiling her dream. You are quite capable of being a beautician without having your hand up Ellen as a puppet to talk for you; so just get a life and let her live hers!"

Amy had burst into stormy sobs and fled, castigating Professor Snape as cruel; and if she expected sympathy from her twin she was mistaken. Ellen, persuaded to tough love, told Amy bluntly that she had told Professor Snape that she already resented being pushed into Amy's scheme of things and that she was jolly well going to take her own choice of career and learn to stop resenting her sister.

It was a loud and hysterical quarrel; and Krait comforted Ellen afterwards and praised her, and Dione dosed Amy with glumbumble juice.

Amy proceeded to punish Ellen hereafter by refusing to talk to her; which suited Ellen well enough, since it enabled her to get her own revision done better though Amy's pain hurt her.

oOoOo

Severus wrote to the girls' parents and asked them to come in; and explained the situation to them.

"Amy's grades will suffer if she doesn't stop fretting herself into a froth" he said "Ellen's doing better now for being encouraged to be an individual; and though I don't normally consider it healthy to have parents in when exams approach I should like Amy given some encouragement that she is still loved and valued, and have it explained that ELLEN loves and values her but wants her own space."

"And about time too" growled Mr Tugwood "I knew that being so closely joined at the hip would end in tears. Why did you have to start separating them this late?"

"Oh I had nothing to do with it" said Severus "I try not to interfere between siblings unless there are obvious problems; and the problem has only arisen because Ellen suddenly grew a backbone and decided she wants her own career. I promised to help her out; I have a cousin who is involved in gaining images for Wizarding Wireless Vision of wild beasts, such as Ellen is fascinated by. It's a little further removed from the actual handling than most jobs in the field – which she said you, Madam Tugwood, might be a little concerned about. Katharine will look out for a young girl I recommend to her and teach her the ropes."

Madam Tugwood immediately relaxed on hearing a female name for the professor's cousin!

"It – well, it's not a career we'd envisioned for either of our girls" she ventured.

"Well it is a good and respectable career" said Severus, who had learned that the word these wretched parents most liked to hear was 'respectable'; "And at least you haven't got two of them wanting to be beauticians, which I'm afraid is Amy's career choice."

"What's wrong with being a beautician? It's genteel!" bridled Madam Tugwood

Severus shrugged.

"Well, I'd not want a daughter of mine treated as a servant by the wealthy but terminally incapable who can't brew their own beauty potions so make themselves feel better by shouting at the girls who can brew such unexacting potions for their overfed, underbrained clients. I fear she'll be disillusioned if she thinks it glamorous. I feel she'd do better heading for a career in makeup for Wizarding Wireless Vision which would place her in the same FIELD as her sister, which may assuage her feelings somewhat about their separation; but unfortunately she threw a hysterical fit at me and rushed off before I could recommend that course as an alternative. I outline it to you as her parents in the hopes you can get more sense out of her. I guess she could work for Madam Primpernelle for a short while; one has to produce miracles, I should think, for HER clients. And she does do manicures and pedicures too that I am told even capable witches find soothing. But I can get an introduction for Amy to those in Wizarding Wireless Vision who might give her a job. Makeup is vital as the facsimile of any person on the vision globe is NOT a true image. Trust me; I have been filmed for the educational channel as a means for schools without a potions master to use my lectures instead, and I have had to wear makeup. I felt quite ridiculous at first, and it is also the job of the makeup artist to put at ease the more er, truculent and snippy professors over having powder and muck on their faces. I confess the result is invisible on the finished result; for which I was highly grateful. But they showed me a sample of un-made up; and I looked like I was in the last stages of some fatal illness. So I do know what I am talking about" he gave a thin smile "And I do know also who to approach."

"Well thank you for your efforts on our daughters' behalf" said Mr Tugwood "And I apologise for shouting at you about separating them only at this awkward time; I have been unable to persuade them apart."

"I was blunt once the rift was apparent" said Severus "And explained to Ellen that actually she is NOT helping Amy by encouraging her to lean on the crutch of sisterhood. Amy needs to be an individual as well as Ellen. I'm afraid I was brutally frank to Amy; anything else washes off her back. But it upset her to the point she was fuelling her own upset with hysterics."

"Amy's good at that" said Mr Tugwood as Madam Tugwood opened her mouth to protest about her poor baby "We'll talk to her and offer your advice – and kind recommendation to the right people."

Severus hoped they would soothe Amy to a state where she was at least ready to talk to Ellen again; because Ellen was unhappy too. Only Ellen was coping with it; and Amy was not!

oOoOo

Amy came and thanked Severus for his help and agreed that it might be interesting to make up people for Wizarding Wireless Vision where her efforts would too be seen by a wider audience.

Severus forbore to point out that if she did her job well, nobody would know that she had done it.

Amy was likely to be a liability to any beautician anyway; when any criticism or snideness was quite likely to have her getting upset or even hysterical; he could NOT see Amy ready to be ordered around imperiously by the women at the fringes of society who were the ones who most often used the services of a beautician. Narcissa said it was fun to be pampered occasionally, but generally she brewed her own beauty potions; as anyone who had received a Hogwarts education ought to be capable of doing! Amy would giggle too much too; and fat old women who fondly believed themselves to still be possible objects of desire would NOT take kindly to being giggled at!

MUCH safer to have her doing stage makeup!

The ridiculous lengths a headmaster had to go to for one's sillier students!


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

NEWTs fell upon them like, as Victor said, teasing Ulrich, a fold on the wolves, which got him amicably poked by his friend. It was vaguely appropriate since Ulrich, along with Miles, was taking Ancient Runes and claimed to have been dreaming in Assyro-Babylonian.

He and Miles moaned much about the exam; and Victor was secretly disappointed that he had not sat it using what he had picked up as he went along, since it appeared that one long question was translating Herpo the Foul's transliteration of Parseltongue, that a Parselmouth like Victor as one of the blooded would find easy. Studying cuneiform and dreaming in Assyro-Babylonian had done some good however as Ulrich said, though whoever had translated a Convolvumort speech into cuneiform had to have a warped sense of humour.

oOoOo

The same two boys were joined by Victor and Elsie for Arithmancy; and Victor was glad that they were to get a stiff exam out of the way early. The standard questions involving ideal times and orientations to break curses and the numbers of wizards involved was fairly straightforward. There were other questions on Waffling logic, what muggles called Boolean Algebra, with examples to unravel; and the final long question. Hitherto for a number of years it had been introduced by the ominous word 'Explain'; no less ominous was the word 'Where?'

It was a calculation involving terms of pi and i3 used in a tough integral of apportation. It required the use of spherical trigonometry as well as solving the integral; at least a comment at the bottom mentioned that the starting point was Hogwarts school. Victor, who was also taking Geomancy, thought it a nice question; and Miles, who was also taking Geomancy looked less stressed than the other two. It was on the eastern side of India, and Victor was fairly certain it was in Calcutta.

They compared notes after.

"I don't KNOW any place names in India!" said Elsie "So I just put on the top right hand side."

"It's about the limit of my knowledge too" said Miles "And I know there's a city there but I couldn't remember if it was Calcutta or Benares so I just put 'that big city in the north east of India."

"I got to India" said Ulrich "That was a pig of a question!"

oOoOo

Potions came next. And this was the draught of living death. All of them except Helga and Miles were taking this; and as they had all had the advantage of having been taught from Severus' notes not the standard, they all consequently crushed his sopophorous beans with the back of their knives. Not all remembered the clockwise stir every seven counterclockwise; not all of them cared to scrawl notes in their text books, which was to say all the girls except, surprisingly, meek Lily who took it very seriously. Elsie just remembered which was like Elsie. They mostly managed a pretty shade of lilac, some of them with a paler and better colour than others.

The written exam covered standard questions on Golapott; and a large section showing the Malfoy lines of a number of potions as displayed by Scarpin's revellaspell which the candidates had to identify as well as saying what, if anything, was wrong with them. Not all the potions had something wrong with them, and indeed the elixir to induce euphoria had Severus' improvement of the addition of peppermint, and Victor thought nobody had any excuse to make a mess of THAT. One of the others was a failed batch of Felix Felicis and Victor absently noted the dangers inherent in taking that; there was nothing amiss with the amortentia. The strengthening solution had skimped on Re'em blood and would not be totally efficacious; and the Wiggenweld potion had no unicorn horn but indeed some kind of dentition which was as close as Victor could come. It was in fact as close as any could come – including, had he known it, Lydia Snape in Hogwarts – being Narwhal horn which was a modified tooth.

oOoOo

Victor, Lily, Leticia, Elsie, Gaius and the Tugwood twins were all taking Charms; this was the one subject at which the twins might be really said to shine. Victor felt he was 'good enough' but would never shine; so he had made sure he at least knew the theory backwards, because in real life he could always fall back on chanting.

The theory presented three longish essays; one on barrier charms, one on memory charms and one on the Fidelius Charm. The Imperturbable Charm, locking spells, repelling charms and invisibility charms as well as the use of an age line, anti-apparation charms, Colloportus, the door binding charm, and indeed the fidelius charm itself might be considered to be covered in the first essay; though as there as a separate essay on the last, Victor only mentioned it in passing to prove he followed the theory. Memory charms should really be called forgetting charms as they covered confundment and the obliviate charm to persuade – for the most part – muggles that nothing was untoward or that it was not important to think about anything strange or to rationalise it. Victor was a fan of making muggles rationalise things rather than fully altering their memories; as he wrote, the strong willed COULD overcome, even partially, the mere alteration of memory whereas giving a different interpretation to a memory was more subtle and thus more effective as less likely to provoke a strong willed individual to, metaphorically speaking, scratch a mental itch.

The Fidelius Charm was also one he knew well as the blood group used it extensively and with some twists he did NOT write about; indeed he only scarcely understood the extension of the spell into feyspace though of course he understood the reasoning behind it.

A few short questions finished the written paper; and that afternoon was the practical.

This was challenging. The candidates were each given half a dozen matching chocolate frog cards and had to perform the Protean Charm on them, so that changing the statistics given on one altered those of the others simultaneously wherever they were. Victor had no doubt that the Tugwood twins would make a display of virtuosity with their cards and stuck himself to pedestrian, but accurate, work.

In point of fact the Tugwood twins, independently and without conferring, made the wizard on their cards into Severus and accorded him outrageously high honours.

He had managed, after all, with aid from their parents, to placate both of them.

oOoOo

Transfigurations was another one Victor was taking, with Ulrich, Helga, Lily, Elsie and Gaius. Like Charms there were three tough essay questions and a short question section; the long questions were 'Cite the exceptions to Gamp's law of Elemental Conjuration and choose one to illustrate further with reasons for it being an exception'; 'Discuss Waffling's laws of Assimilative Correlation and cite at least four examples, no more than two of each to be covered by the two types of Assimilative Correlation'; and 'discuss the dangers inherent in human transfiguration with reference too to animagi'. Victor picked 'information' as one of his exceptions, explaining that whilst one might conjure a page of written matter that one knew intimately, the exception referred to the conjuration of NEW information since one could not conjure what one did not fully understand, as covered in Gamp's theorem of the basis of conjuration, one of the old wizard's early steps on the way to the formulation of his laws. Victor had read a dogeared biography of Gamp he had come upon in the library and had reckoned that old Gamp had been rather like Severus without having been kept as young or had his theories challenged as much as Severus through having died a bachelor and not having had much to do with children.

It may be said that Victor managed to wander into post NEWT reveries over Assimilative Correlation, having been used to discuss such things with Jade and Severus and Krait for fun. He knew the textbook answer to the third question but also noted that a transfigurationist with any sense took account of the human brain and isolated it from the remainder of the transfiguration whether an animagus himself or just changing another. He mentioned the dangers of cross-connecting wrongly the radically different physiology of different species and the possibility of losing parts, as might happen with any cross species switch, but was always considered more tragic in the case of humans, though in the case of first years the loss of any of the speech mechanisms was an advantage and the loss of the brain scarcely noticeable as it was a portion rarely used. He made a few serious notes on top of that piece of snidery; it kind of behoved him to add some kind of Snapism, after all.

The short questions posed no problems.

The afternoon again saw the practical; with a standard conjuration of something living and the changing of a fiddle into a cat.

Victor decided to enliven the examination room with the production of a flight of humming birds and topped that off with a trailing vine of bright flowers for them to feed on for the short time they would exist before they dissipated back into the energy from which they had come.

He turned his fiddle into a handsome Maine Coone – just because he did not think anyone else had ever used that species and he had read up cat books before the exam – which as he was thinking about American music mewed to the tune of 'Mood Indigo' or as Victor hastily said, 'Mewed Indigo'. The examiner gave him a funny look, but the transfiguration was otherwise perfect and Victor planned to present the cat to Silvina as a more musical moggy than most.

In the DADA classroom, the ceiling was still intermittently dropping pretty flowers which disconcerted the examiner almost as much as the jellied dark creatures that had been left on the invigilation desk with a note that the lower school donated them and wished the examiner luck with the dark creatures that were the upper sixth. This meant Victor, Ulrich, Helga, Elsie and Gaius.

The Bee Marauders were the limit sometimes, thought Victor!

. The written covered protection spells and recognition of cursed items; and, as might be supposed in this anniversary year, the use of compulsions like the Imperious Curse and beyond, as used by Voldemort. Victor knew a lot about compulsions and curses and wrote with deep knowledge about how such things might be embedded into text and curse the victim all unaware; he cited the book that had cursed Walter as an example and also Tom Riddle's diary. He mentioned too the curse on House Elves set up by the Highfey; and wandered into delayed action compulsions to be enacted under the arising of certain circumstances. Like most of the blood group who hung around with Marauders he had an advanced understanding of the Dark Arts; besides, it was another topic Jade had been wont to discuss and Severus was extremely knowledgeable. As a top grade curse breaker he had need to be; and Victor wrote too that in order to be a successful curse breaker one had to look beyond the obvious and the crude into the many headed mutability of the truly twisted.

There was a bonus question about Horcruces; and nobody had any excuse for not knowing in rudiment at least what such was after the Celebration and its display. Victor postulated that though one had already severed a part of one's soul to make the thing, the actual embedding of that soul fragment into a horcrux made the severance more irreversible; since true repentance could go a long way to mend a damaged soul. Repentance when that soul fragment was tied to an object was futile without the maker having destroyed his own horcrux first.

It was an interesting speculation that had Tofty thinking when he came to mark the paper.

The practical was the standard duel.

Victor had no trouble stopping the unforgivable curses – none of the class did – and absently countered them while he jigged to add to his chanted curse that turned the examiner into an orchid just because it was a pretty thing, and kind of limited the actions rather as he explained later; and besides there was a kind of symmetry with the ceiling's offerings.

Victor was like that sometimes.

Elsie, Ulrich, Helga and Gaius stuck to the tried and tested method of _levicorpus_, the full body bind, _expelliarmus_ and their choice of a nuisance level spell; the bat bogey hex for Elsie, the tickling charm for Helga, _langlock_ for Ulrich and the slug vomiting curse for Gaius.

Such things were standard enough for the duelling club and the MSHG after all.

And for bonus marks all of them managed very competent Corporeal Patronuses; and Victor pointed out that all of those who were taking the exam had too been part of the defence against the dementors when Prince Peak had been attacked back at the Triwizard and knew the spell to laugh them to death as well. With luck that might give bonus marks to all of them; and indeed the examiner conferred with Professor Erich Von Strang over this.

oOoOo

Miles was the only one taking Comparative Magic; and being the only student had managed to catch up OWL studies and NEWT as well; as he had considered taking it to OWL only, had he not progressed so well. Doing five years work effectively in one year and some holiday reading he never was expecting a high mark; and was delighted with his luck to get a long question on the significance of naming in different cultures, that also came into a lot of general discussion in the post-NEWT groups.

And he and Victor were the only ones doing Geomancy.

They had both had a great deal of fun with David Fraser taking them around Austria and Switzerland and navigating by eatery, which as David said was Sirius Black's tried and tested way of making sure young people remembered their way about.

The written involved questions on the likely order of destinations by Knight Bus, filling in ley lines on a map with key nodal shift points and plotting the arrival of five different portkeys into one field so that there were no accidental combinations of more than one group of users with another whilst not taking up too much time.

Victor worked out carefully staggered times with an additional charm on the portkey to be repellent as soon as it had arrived, to ensure that each group wished to move away quickly from it so no other group ended up in the same place. Miles admitted afterwards, being in the same situation of having to catch up as in Comparative Magic, that he had plotted landing points at a distance from each other as the easiest way to do it.

The exam was English; so for the practical they were taken to England to collect a canary from Norwich, a dragon statuette carved in sea coal from Llanstephan, a book from Reading and a kazoo from Cirencester.

oOoOo

Helga came out of the herbology exam – being the only one entered – declaring that if she had her way, flesh eating trees should have classifications like beasts and the Monkey Hugger needed almost as many as Snargaluffs and Dementors.

She told Victor who would understand and appreciate the comment that it was the sort of plant that Hagrid would like as a pet if it only could get up and walk. The tree had sweet smelling fruit that attracted small primates which it then enfolded and digested when they climbed the tree; fortunately it was not AS attractive to human primates since small Ismenia Snape had already been reprimanded for sneaking in to the greenhouse to see it. The test was to harvest as many fruit as possible, which would explode if they hit the ground; so it was a question of simultaneous cutting and hovering charms.

Helga managed six; and to her chagrin discovered that once the exam was over, Valerie Burdock had permitted Ismenia back to have a competition, and whilst one could not resent one's Herbology professor collecting ten, that small Ismenia managed as many was just a trifle lowering.

Repotting Mimbulus mimbletonia without getting covered in stinksap was a comparative doddle, said Helga and the written was a breeze.

The up side was that they had the fruit of the Monkey Hugger for tea, with wild alpine strawberries – the first and second being sent to gather them – and ice cream.

oOoOo

There were two taking History, Ulrich and Leticia and Ulrich declared it a very nice paper indeed; he found the hardest part was to pick four out of the eight suggested essay questions as they were all, he declared, quite lovely questions, even if not all relevant to European History, the reason why he had chosen 'Discuss the worldwide decision to hide magic' and 'Cover the rise of Gellert Grindelwald and discuss the reasons for his initial success with reference to the psyche of his chosen followers' among others. Leticia said she had not chosen that one because she was not sure who Gellert Grindelwald was and she thought that he was called Gerhardt and he hadn't been successful at all because the schools kept beating him. As Percy Weasley had always despaired of getting Leticia to understand any more history than anything that related personally to her, nobody was surprised that she found it hard going. Leticia had thought that History would be a soft option and would besides have the opportunity to make eyes at a pure blood wizard – Percy – and had been disappointed on both counts. Percy had been mightily relieved to have Ulrich in his class too! And Leticia was still at a loss to understand why Professor Weasley had actually gone and married a colourless little thing like Harmony Bloom who was not even from a known family; and after all, if he had got her in the family way, even if one could see why he would want to, why he could not just slip her a potion to deal with the problem she did not see.

Fortunately for her own safety, Leticia never voiced such thoughts; those who knew Harmony better would have jinxed the silly Villeneuve girl into a ball.

The other supposed soft option was Divination which was being taken by the Tugwood twins.

They were skilled enough at interpreting dreams and signs and if they managed only half hearted attempts to read the future in the crystal ball and cards it was no less than was usual.

oOoOo

Victor was the only one taking chanting; something he took very seriously for curse breaking. He had to design three long chants for specific purposes – to enable a wearer of a cursed item of clothing to remove it; to neutralise the spread of a cursed wound; and to remove the curse from a piece of jewellery. There were short questions too on theory and on the choices of language or poetry form for a number of suggested chants.

The practical involved neutralising a horcrux. Draco had discovered that Buckley Cooper had read about Voldemort and had tried to emulate him with the production of one horcrux at least; it was not that efficiently made but still worth while getting rid of. And Lucius had asked to use it as there was only one candidate that year, Victor at Prince Peak; his contemporaries in Hogwarts having already gained their NEWT in their OWL year. If he could do it, all well and good; if not, well the traditional methods might be applied. But just in case one did not have the sword of Gryffindor or a basilisk tooth to hand it was worth trying alternative methods.

"I didn't know they could be neutralised by chanting sir" said Victor, a trifle disconcerted.

"It IS a little out of the ordinary; credit will be given for effort since it's a bit beyond NEWT level really" said Lucius.

The horcrux was a Galleon; rather clever really since few people would even remark it, let alone try to get rid of it. Victor considered. The best way to destroy it was to destroy the form of the galleon; and therefore melting it seemed the best solution.

"Am I supposed to remove the enchantment or destroy it as a horcrux?" he asked concerned.

"Do whatever seems best" said Lucius.

Victor nodded; and started chanting. The gold started to steam slightly; and it screamed, the steam turning into an insubstantial figure and heading for Victor. Victor absently flicked out his patronus to wrestle with the steam monster and continued chanting. The screams became stickier and thicker as the galleon started to slump into molten gold; and stopped as trickles ran off the edge. Victor sank to his knees.

"Oh good, it is possible; well done my boy!" said Lucius. Victor stared.

"Are you saying you didn't know if I could do it or not?" he demanded.

"Well it seemed a shame to waste a chance to give you good marks if you could pull it off" said Lucius "Any chanter trained by a Snape is likely to be post NEWT in ability so I figured if anyone could, you could. It beats borrowing Gryffindor's sword."

"Mr Malfoy" said Victor with great restraint "You ARE a piece of work!"

Lucius grinned, clapped him on the shoulder and agreed cheerfully.

How could you remain cross with him?

oOoOo

Enchanting was the province of Gaius; who did not feel able to take chanting instead. He said it was a good enough exam and seemed to perform with sufficient aplomb to be able to reasonably able to expect the level of mark he wanted.

The last NEWT exam to be taken was Care of Magical Beasts.

The reason this was last was because after the written the practical was a reprise of the NEWT that David Fraser had himself taken; collecting murtlaps on the seashore and hoping to avoid being bitten by luck-draining mackled malaclaws. Ellen Tugwood, the sole candidate was a shrewd enough girl when not upset about her sister; and had also heard of David's own experiences. David gave advice on any of the several possible NEWT level tests, such as collecting Re'em blood or physicking a sick hippogriff or collecting dung from the nest of a female dragon busy clutching. Ellen used David's expedient of spraying water from her wand to discourage the malaclaws and managed to get five murtlaps before frightening off the rest.

oOoOo

The NEWT students sat back to enjoy themselves for the rest of the term while the OWL students shuffled uneasily; and into the Great Hall as they dined burst Seagh Snape who had a young girl by the arm whom he deposited on Krait.

"I'd appreciate the loan o' sich folk as can handle dark creatures, for I've a muckle trouble wi' the wild hunt on ma tail" he said with a significant lapse into the Scots idiom in his emotion.

"Explain" said Severus leaping up "Marauders close up, Bee Marauders take care of this girl because you're too young where the fey are concerned."

"And some of us, as goblins, their natural prey he means" said Yrdl quietly to her sisters.

The Blood Group and sundry other MSHG luminaries repaired to the castle walls as Seagh spoke, using a sonorous spell to carry to all.

"I'd been poking around in Russia looking for music; and this group of fey who I thought a little dodgy said they had a new song to show me. So I went along and the song they had was to hold immobile and drain the life force of the victim. Which in this case was a pubescent virgin as the kind of person as has just about the most life force there is. These Russian fey have less substance as a whole than British fey; on a small island, there's more commingling of species. The Russian fey can go from one century to the next without seeing a human. This is why they want the life force for those of you who do not know. The bad news however is that they said they had bought her from some humans because she was some kind of defective; so I had little choice. I grabbed her, elf-apparated because I hoped it might confuse them a little and THEN got into fey space. If they're any good they'll be ten minutes behind me; if they're inept it'll take longer. And I never hid where I come from I'm afraid; but I just hared back home. I thought they'd come here anyway if they DID lose the trail, so you'd have no warning even if I hightailed it to Hogwarts instead."

"You did quite right son" said Severus "No, Rory, don't bother to break out Kalashnikovs; they don't touch the more insubstantial fey, we shall have to use the electricity spell to disrupt them."

"I did nip alongside some power lines – painful for me but I reckon the more so for them" grinned Seagh "I used the Interlaken rail network."

"He's a braw resourceful wee laddie" said Victor in a cod Scots accent. Seagh cuffed him.

The examiners had come out too.

"Ah, fey; nice of you to lay on entertainment" said Lucius.

"Ye've a funny way o' definin' entertainment ye cad of a Malfoy sumpf" said Seagh, sourly.

"And how happy would you be if I lost my air of boyish insouciance?" laughed Lucius.

"Oh aye, the world would be a poorer place" said Seagh, unable to resist grinning back. "Now, Lucius, will you tell the examiners that battle is no place for amateurs or shall I?"

"Perhaps I'd better" said Lucius "You don't go into social situations as much as I do so they're used to me being rude to them."

"Beg pardon" said the examiner who had tested those for DADA "But I for one have worked for aurors; took the training, but could not quite pass. And if these young people are to be fighting dark creatures the way the youth of Hogwarts did, then there is no reason this should not form all or part of their exam, those that have it and er, maybe a top up viva voce for the year below. There are precedents."

"There are indeed; and an excellent suggestion, Eleazer" said Lucius. Eleazer Bones looked relieved; if anyone was going to make difficulties it would be Lucius. Lucius went on "Madam Trewkettle however will NOT be capable of dealing with the fey; Tarquin, Sevvy, Richard, you're not supposed to be here either, take Madam Trewkettle and Mr er….. to safety" he waved a hand at the one who thought he was trendy and might well have been when the word was still current.

oOoOo

The fey seemed to be taking their time so Seagh filled in a few more details.

"From what I understand, these fey had made a pact with a group that I think is a Russian branch of Odessa; apparently they bargained for the children of blood traitors and mudbloods and the like who had been executed in return for turning up as much under the control of their officers as the fey ever are."

"We probably will have to counterstrike against these fey then" said Severus grimly "If only to deny them to the enemy. How many children were there? We shall have to give THEM sanctuary."

Seagh gave a short, ugly laugh.

"Oh none!" he said "Why do you think they want the blood and substance of humans? They need the strength to breed and they need the substance more than they need human brood mares to breed on else they won't have enough connection with this world to reproduce. They can breed after the fashion of dementors – which they most nearly resemble – but it costs them without life force or human emotion to feed on. This is blood magic of the darkest, my children, and a far cry from what you have read in Dad's book."

"Sev, Seagh, does this mean we can herd them with patronuses and laugh them to death too?" asked AHHa.

"Should work; can't hurt" said Severus laconically "The laughing spell worked to upset the Scots fey. Lucius? You're the expert on the fey."

"I've never known any as insubstantial as Seagh describes" admitted Lucius "They can put on substance of a kind, Seagh?"

"Aye; enough to touch and be touched; but not enough to reproduce without extra; and not enough to be significantly affected by physical weapons other than magical goblin steel swords" said Seagh "Because it's like firing into the wind."

"So physical effect spells are also less effective?" asked Albert Jorkins.

"Yes" said Seagh.

"But if they can use music, presumably they can also be affected by it?" said Silvina.

"I LIKE the way my sister thinks" said Seagh "Great idea, our kid; anyone who can play accio up your flutes, fiddles and so on; we'll use that fey-attuned dance that you used against Spass – where IS Spass by the way? He'd be a great help against fey."

"Spass is here! Ready to irritate!" said Spass happily.

"Right; go with Madam Burdock to the greenhouses and collect snargaluff pods; tossing them at the little blighters ought to be entertaining for you and us both" said Seagh. Spass brightened.

"I LIKE this" he said.

Valerie blinked. The idea of using Snargaluff as weapons she had seen before on the triwizard; why had she not thought of it? She hurried off with Spass in tow, absently jinxing him for pinching her backside. Poltergeists were rather a mixed blessing!

It was almost another half an hour before the jeering, hooting, roiling rabble burst untidily out of fey space and Severus had been able to pass around the ointment to see through glamour to all his cohorts. There were around fifty of the disparate, ragged, noisy fey, flying around in an almost hypnotic whirl.

"Not as hard looking as the ones in Scotland" remarked Ron "Bludger practice time I think!"

Hermione sighed.

"Sometimes I don't think men EVER grow up" she murmured to Krait.

"We had this conversation before and decided that they don't" said Krait cheerfully. "Don't knock it; far better for them to enjoy themselves than to decide they're bored with the whole process and leave it all to us."

"There is that" admitted Hermione.

oOoOo

"GIVE US THE GIRL BACK AND THE THIEF OR WE WILL TAKE THEM AND THE OTHER CHILDREN HERE!" shouted the fey leader.

"Then you'd better get yourself some kind of army to fight for them" said Severus calmly, using a Sonorous spell rather than shout.

"WE HAVE OUR ARMY! YOU CANNOT STAND BEFORE US!" cried the fey.

"Beg pardon? Are they then invisible? I see only a raggedy arsed rabble of inadequates; the children will scarce work up a sweat defeating you" yawned Severus.

A beautiful female came forward and opened her mouth to sing; and some of the boys swayed forward before she even started, notably Julian and Randolph.

"The Russian equivalent of the Lannan Sidhe more than pure veela" murmured Severus. "Krait; veela song"

Krait began a song of her own that was half song half chant; and which strengthened the blood bond of those in the blood group and drew forth gasps of adoration of the other males.

They would do anything for her. Dione absently dropped a muffliatus spell centred on the fey beauty and Krait wound up her song with flourish.

The Fey whooped and hollered and came roiling towards the defenders, shouting

"See how scared they are; they do nothing against us! Is this your surrender?"

And the defenders waited with military discipline; all eyes now on Severus to give the command. All knew what they were to do; and waited to do it until the time was right.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Back in the great hall the Bee Marauders were obeying by forming a bodyguard around the young girl; who was about the age, they thought, of the First Peak Marauders. She looked ill and drained; and her clothes, once fine, were torn and dirty.

Those of the fourth who were less enthusiastic warriors also came to help; and Vya, being a native Russian speaker, spoke quietly to the girl, telling her that they meant her no harm; and transferred the knowledge of the English language to her.

"Tell us who you are and how you came to be with the fey" said Vya.

The girl looked doubtfully on Vya using a tone that was effectively an order.

"Don't even start to think racist thoughts about our Vya" said Flo "We have free elves here; and goblins and we make no difference. Any more than we make difference for muggleborn."

"I am sorry; I have never seen a free elf before" said the girl. "Oh, what will become of our family elves? Those awful fey said they would enslave them because they would be of my blood when they finished the ritual!"

"Yeah, well, they didn't finish the ritual, did they?" said Fred "If you call them they can come here and the Headmaster will protect them; and if they want to stay slaves they can and if they want to be free, you can free them. And I say, if you think of others when you're scared and hurt you're all right!"

"What's your name?" said Flo "I'm Flo; my brother Fred, Vya here, BaHH, Batty, Yrdl, Crow, Hette and Vava, and Hanna-Leena and Sara."

"I'm Yelizaveta Koldunova" said the girl "And – and so much has happened!"

"Tell us if you want; if you do not wish to talk we force no confidences" said Hanna.

"Thank you. I will tell you; until a week ago I lived happily with my parents and the elves and our wonderful horses; then these men in black burst in and killed mummy and called daddy a blood traitor; and tied me up and – and him too; and they made me watch while they – they cast the cruciatus curse on him to make him admit he was a blood traitor. He was pure blood you see; mummy was muggle born" she sobbed. Various hands patted her or embraced her. Yelizaveta gulped and went on "And then they were going to do the same to me after they killed daddy; and all those awful creatures turned up and told them that they had promised; and the leader said I was not a child and the fey said I was a perfect age for their ritual and that I counted. So they gave me up to them. What please is to happen?"

"I should think" said Flo "That our people will kill the fey who pursue you; and maybe any left behind; and all these Odessa people. It does not bring your parents back but it stops them doing it to other people. And you will come to school with us. Fred, I should think we ought to go out and fetch and carry; and we can tell this to Professor Snape too because he might find the information useful."

Fred nodded; he usually did what his sister suggested.

She was good at knowing what ought to be done.

oOoOo

When Flo and Fred got to the battlements it was to find Severus, his face filled with concentration just about to drop his hand.

And then several things happened at once.

The fey were casting spells and the defenders were mostly throwing up shield charms without resorting to the use of incantation, though a few wands twitched; and several of the adults had woven the diffusion grid in case the killing curse was used. And then they came close enough to make it easy, close enough that they had less room to manoeuvre. Severus dropped his raised hand

The Patronuses of the fourth years shot out; in which endeavour Fred and Flo joined quickly. The flutes, fiddles and pipes of all who played began that bizarre dance music that so affected Spass, who had for himself a muffliatus spell of protection turned inward by Dione. Spass flew out to throw snargaluff pods; Ron enchanted rocks as bludgers, which at least inconvenienced the fey even if they were too insubstantial to be really hurt by them; and as they were herded into a mass by dance and avoiding missiles and patronuses the most able let fly with Irmi's electrical charge spell. And they did not hold back.

The fey dropped like flies in the electrocuting lights in food shops. Some actually flew apart; some fell twitching feebly; some just disappeared.

It was over eerily quickly.

"Was that the most of them?" asked Severus of Seagh.

"I'd say so, yes" said Seagh.

"Well in that case, you can take the upper sixth, those who want to go; as they've finished; and the lower sixth; Ron has no exam students so he can go, and Viktor, and mop up any that are left" said Severus "And find out all you can about these creeps who made so infamous a pact with them."

"It was Odessa!" cried Flo "And please, you need to check if they've in any way bound Yelizaveta's elves because the fey said they would!"

"On it young Flo" said Seagh "I had kind of come to the conclusion it was Odessa myself; but if they identified themselves to the girl – Yelizaveta? What a monicker! – then that is confirmation. All right, volunteers to me, no I'm NOT taking fourth years just because you have no exams either have a little sense! How do I explain to parents that I borrowed their offspring to do war and got them damaged or lost?"

"I'm your sister; I don't count" said Silvina.

"Oh yes you do our kid" said Seagh "You're top musician of fey tunes while I'm out of the castle because I'm taking Godfrey who also has no exam students and Volodya too to be my main men and musical and chanting back up. Tough luck."

Silvina had not really expected anything else but she felt that she had to try.

And Mr Bones was taking the names of those who had been working against the fey with a view to excusing them the practical component of the DADA exam; having marked all those taking part at an 'O' grade for the practical component for their demeanour of steadfastness and fast protection spells against such jinxes as the fey threw. This would hold over to the next year for the fourth and lower sixth; but he would see that whoever was the examiner, that they were credited duly.

In fact Bones was rather startled and taken aback to find that a lot of able witches and wizards were in fact the fourth year, which was a large year!

Seagh's volunteers contained all the post NEWT students, all the remaining lower sixth including Elsie and Yukya who were not taking DADA to NEWT, Ulrich, Victor, Gaius, Helga and Elsie Willis from the upper sixth. There was no way he could jam them all into feyspace without a few more who knew what they were doing; blood group or no, Ron could NOT get the idea of fey space and only Darryl had really taken to it; which was not surprising since Mimi used it as often as she used elf style apparation to visit him. They linked hands and apparated instead. The blooded consisted of Seagh, Ron, Volodya, Viktor, Victor, Darryl, Angelica, Sebastian and Irmi. Those not blooded were Nils, Crys, Miles, Alison, Ulrich, Helga, Gaius, Elsie Willis, Elsie Blackwood, Emily, Evangeline, Yukya and Adrian. That meant that the strongest could apparate two non-blooded out by elf style apparation if need be. It was an acceptable risk.

As it happened, few were left in the Russian rath; a few elderly or sick fey and such low fey as were despised too totally to take on a raiding party. Some were house elves freed by line death or as punishment.

Seagh made full use of his fey blood and demanded that by right of conquest they now belonged to him and ordered them to visit England; where they might join the fey community on Lucius' lands or return to serve him personally.

This pleased some of them mightily; a rheumy old elf and a couple, a sick looking female elf and a scared looking blue-green entity who seemed to cling to each other for support as much as for affection and they pledged themselves to Seagh. The rest would come under the seelie laws Lucius imposed on his fey community.

Seagh legilimensed one of the elderly fey who was fading irrevocably out of the world entirely; and found he was still counted an advisor and knew much.

And time to deal with Odessa in its most local form after term was over so the bloodgroup might close up.

He sent all but Victor, Darryl and Angelica back.

The four of them would do some reconnaissance because Victor and Angelica had been learning about feyspace; and Seagh intended to get them up to speed in a hurry.

It did not take long; seeing more use of feyspace and having some rapid arithmantic explanations and aid from Seagh and Darryl soon had Victor and Angelica confident that they could get in and out of feyspace without help; and they went off to find the headquarters of this branch of Odessa.

This branch had perhaps more excuse than many for disliking muggles; in the heart of the Ukraine, they had seen the devastation caused by the meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. It was enough to make anyone resent muggles; and Seagh intended recommending to Severus that they spy on this facility fairly constantly and see if there were not those who might be subverted, rather than having to kill them all. He intended using legilimensy on Yelizaveta – the child could jolly well answer to Veta – to yank those who had tortured her father and been ready to torture her into feyspace to kill; because they went beyond what was reasonable for those who had perceived cause to hate and fear muggles. And if they were jumpy it would too mean the whole lot were less likely to be a pain.

Then they might start to educate them perhaps.

Seagh nodded and signalled to the others that they might as well go home; they had nothing more to do here for the time being.

oOoOo

And during the few days that the four were away, it was business as usual back at the school; and for nine of them that meant OWLs.

First was Potions.

This was at least a subject they were all well drilled in even though Randolph often drew fire from Severus for what the exasperated potions master called too much artistic licence in a brewing that would never be likely to get any other kind of licence for proficiency. Randolph had worked hard – Severus HAD put himself out to keep him in school after all – to maintain an A average which was better then wavering between P and D with the occasional T.

To their surprise and not a little dismay the cauldrons were already full of something.

It was the halfway stage of something; they were required to complete. The ingredients were all laid out; that and the appearance told them what it was; it was the strengthening solution that had been maturing over the weekend. And now was the tricky part, where the ingredients must be added with the right timing between them, and the number of stirs imperative. The Strengthening Solution was a most unforgiving potion and Randolph groaned inwardly. His last strengthening potion had made, so Severus claimed, a strong man weak at the knees. Leneli and Peter Lowther shared his dismay. Clementine, Muriel and Prudence were quite good at potioneering at least, Muriel being something quite special; Milos was not bad, and Rory and Fred actually shone. Which, as Severus said, went to prove that some Weasleys could; even second-hand Weasleys like the Lowthers, even though it was a shame all the talent had concentrated in one twin.

Well, what could not be cured must be endured and the potioneers set to with more or less enthusiasm. The Muggle Marauders were all dedicated arithmancers though Randolph and Rory found that easier than either twin; and Randolph applied arithmantic calculations ruthlessly. Randolph was just pleased that his did not smell too much like burning rubber by the time he had finished. Absently he drew a cauldron on a scrap of gash paper and made the steam look like it was supposed to, added a drawing of a muscle man, and concentrated.

The solution actually cleared slightly and Randolph heaved a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness for art! For him it worked the way a chant might help to improve the work of someone skilled in that field; and it had saved him a few times already! It was not REALLY cheating; since he had no intention of taking Potions to NEWT! If he used the skill ever it would be for some practical purpose and then any means to achieve a result was fair.

He left the dungeon feeling not too unhappy with the result; if he could do a good theory paper he should pass. And that was what he really wanted!

Leneli did not look too unhappy; she was a methodical worker and with such complex potions that could improve the apparent skill of the potioneer.

Fred, Muriel and Rory were chatting happily about how well it had done, so Pete and Randolph thoughtfully jinxed their two fellow marauders and threatened Muriel with being turned into one of her own nifflers.

Knowing that they did not mean it, Muriel giggled.

The written was somewhat less nerve wracking.

There were questions on Golapott's first two laws; and the Malfoy lines of a number of potions had been printed and the candidates required to suggest antidotes. The long question was 'name a potion to duplicate one transfiguration, one charm and one other spell of your choice and explain in what respect they may surpass spells covering the same effect'.

They were not required to write up the methodology so the four marauders each chose Jade's duplication of Circe's potion to turn people into pigs as she had written about in 'Transactions of the Learned Society of Potioneers' for their transfigurational potion secure in the knowledge that almost everyone else would have picked Polyjuice Potion. Everyone in the class, unsurprisingly, cited the Purple Potion Poisoning Jape as a means to effect a colour change to imitate a charm and mentioned that a potion might have extending potion added to it or be made an everlasting elixir. Muriel pointed out that externally applied hair colour potions were far superior to charms as they could be washed out with an antidote or subtly added to with different shades and could be applied to only selected parts of the hair or fur.

Some of her nifflers had interesting fur colour, which did not seem to bother them in the least and at least made spotting them easier when they escaped on a quest to gather shiny things.

Randolph and Pete exchanged a high five after the exam; they both thought they now had a good chance of scraping a pass; which was as much not to let Severus down as for their academic record!

oOoOo

Next was transfigurations. Krait was wont to say that this class had no real dunces because neither did any of them shine. Muriel was one of the better ones, as was Rory; and with a lot of theory and hard work Krait had ruthlessly drilled them to hover around an 'O' grade on a good day with the wind behind them as she put it. The other Marauders had some instinct from being of the blood group; but on the whole the attainments could at best be described, said Krait, as turgidly solid.

The written exam at least, thought the marauders, was quite nice, as it covered the sort of things that came up in the MSHG. The long essay was on _inanimatus conjuratus_ which they wandered into the occasional foray into NEWT level over; as indeed they did by recalling, in the question on cross-species switches, the term 'Assimilative Correlation' which people like Jade and Seagh threw around rather freely. They defined switching spells, vanishing spells, Animagi and such; and Muriel was well poked for remarking brightly afterwards that she had quoted Emeric Switch.

The practical would be more challenging.

It was of fairly standard form, conjuring a handkerchief, switching bottles of liquid – or for the talented the contents of the bottles – turning guinea pigs into guinea fowls, vanishing dirt from a bucket and turning a death watch beetle into a watch. For the watch and the handkerchief, as always, bonus marks were given for complexity.

Peter almost lost the plot with his beetle when he turned it into a muggle digital clock, and retrieved himself a little by the hasty explanation that the muggle device had buttons on it that had been in his mind as an assimilative correlation of beetles.

Rory managed a rather lopsided monogram on his handkerchief and Muriel had lace on hers. Prudence's guinea fowl still had fur, and Milos managed to turn his dirt into cockroaches and could not really explain how this had come about. Only Muriel switched the contents of the bottles; Rory stuck to the safer method of switching bottles and hoped to make up marks with a rather nice watch that chimed the hour with an enamelled face after the fashion of Faberge. Muriel's was of chased silver with flowers painted on the face.

The rest stuck to very plain timepieces. It was at least, they agreed, an improvement on turning tortoises into boxes or dormice into teapots.

oOoOo

Charms followed. The written consisted of brief essays on water-affecting charms, locomotor charms and cheering charms; and again nobody had any real trouble with the theory. Muriel hoped to get a pass on her theory as she had difficulty with charms; another reason she preferred potions.

It was considered a decent paper.

The practical was another standard test, making an eggcup cartwheel, changing the size of a dinner plate, stilling dancing teacups, turning a rat blue, and lifting a goblet of water with extra marks for anyone who cold demonstrate the control to pour from it.

The one who so demonstrated this level of control was Leneli who shone in this class and was all that prevented Dione from considering the lot of them as turgid as Krait did. Randolph pulled out all the stops here too; he knew he had done quite well in the written and forced himself to concentrate on pouring his water, and on making the eggcup's motion smooth; and on stacking his teacups. Such little things added to the overall mark and Randolph felt he had the chance of a good mark. He was quite good at charms even if Leneli surpassed him. He told himself firmly that, after all, most of the spells they used in DADA were no more or less than charms after all!

oOoOo

And DADA came next, and for those who had taken on the fey, the practical was waived, since the main components were resisting jinxes and dealing with a boggart. And as Mr Bones said, they had resisted jinxes beyond the scope of the exam and such implacable zeal was not going to have much trouble with a boggart. Only Clementine, Muriel and Prudence needed a practical; because they had been there in a support role.

The written covered definitions of dark creatures and dark arts; and questions on specific dark creatures and curses. The werewolf had been left out for the first time; but there were enough other dark creatures to cover. Erich was conscientious about making sure his class was knowledgeable; and besides he had the ally this year of the jellied dark creature sweeties that heightened awareness no end. It did not add to Clementine's mark that she wrote absently that dementors were coca-cola flavoured reflecting their repellent nature.

oOoOo

Most of the class were taking Care of Domestic Beasts; except Muriel who was keen on animals and was taking both exams, having talked very fast to David Fraser.

The Care of Domestic Beasts started with the practical, which involved the early stages of the training of a white hound such as were bred to hunt nogtails; and currying a rather splendid Granian flying horse.

The examiner was taken aback to find a younger girl chatting to her horse; this was Veta. However, as the examiners had been there when Veta arrived she was gentle and sympathetic with the bereaved little girl and did not send her away as the horse seemed quite happy.

Randolph really enjoyed currying the horse; he had enjoyed teaching the puppy to find a scent too. He liked animals, though he was glad he was to have nothing to do with the larger and more scary ones like dragons. Dragons were beautiful – at a safe distance – but the flying horses were exquisite. He loved drawing them; and seeing how much poor bereft little Yelizaveta loved them too he determined to paint her pictures of them to help her feel at home. He would place soothing magic too into the paints to help her.

The viva voce covered the needs for disillusionment or surgery on kneazles and crups after describing their distinctive features; then it was the written. The written demanded a list of the different types of magical dog with their characteristics and uses in the wizarding world; and likewise of flying horses. They none of them thought they had done too badly; Randolph again felt he had done rather well. Pete manfully avoided writing a diatribe against crups; his twin succumbed to the temptation. Fred wrote that crups had no discernable use unless it was for muggle coursing in which case all owners of crups should be considered highly suspect persons. Their mum had been growled at by the crup belonging to a witch who lived across the park from them who had been most put out when the twins had threatened her with the ministry and she had made certain ill natured and ill considered remarks about mudbloods. Fred had smiled sweetly and told her that their uncle Arthur – that was Mr Arthur Weasley to her – would know how to deal with her; and promptly DID report her. And Fred was still sore about the incident. Pete just wanted to get a good mark if he could; he knew he was less academic than his twin but that was no excuse not to work hard. After all, even if they accepted the offer to play second string beaters for the Chuddleigh cannons when they left school – an offer made after their match against the Luxemburg team – they would still want good NEWTs since no sports career lasted forever, as their mother had pointed out. And Pete figured that if Gorbrin Malfoy-Tobak DID manage to popularise Quiddpolo, now it had been shown on Wizarding Wireless Vision, then someone who had both played quidditch and who knew about magical horses might get a good job as chief team groom. And the game had a good chance of getting off the ground – literally – now that muggle flying vehicles were being used for transport, so more matches of all kinds could be played. Pete was actually rather fascinated by quidpolo; he and his twin had played a few games in the long holiday when Severus carted all four Muggle Marauders over to Malfoy Manor to make appropriate connections. And he could play THAT once he was too old for professional class Quidditch.

It may be said that Rory had little interest in magical animals and merely hoped to scrape a pass; more because he liked Professor Fraser than out of care for his exam portfolio.

oOoOo

Muriel took her other care of beasts exam straight afterwards.

This involved a written paper largely on dragons and snakes; listing and commenting on the major features of the same. Muriel found it quite interesting; she had some thoughts of going to work in Belsornia, on the dragon reserve there. The practical involved cleaning a firecrab and feeding a hippogriff. Muriel had fed a griffon; feeding a hippogriff was child's play.

oOoOo

The last compulsory exam for Prince Peak was Herbology.

This was Rory's favourite class; he loved gardening and was enchanted by the weird and wonderful plants of the wizarding world, not in the least bit put off by the more extravagantly dangerous ones. In fact he often helped Valerie Burdock with the school snargaluff just because.

On the whole, Val considered them a moderately knowledgeable and talented year; admittedly this was by comparison with the children of the free school, but none of them were real duffers even if only Rory truly shone. The majority of the class could be relied on to get an E grade; and it was highly unlikely that any would fail.

The written covered the differences between flitterbloom and devil's snare, the right types of fertilisers to use, and the types of trees used for wand woods and their preferred locations. The whole group knew most about beech trees because of Fagia, the resident dryad; and went out to grab some bonus points for knowing that beech trees must be planted only with beech trees because of their light-blocking tendencies.

The practical was along standard lines, repotting a fanged geranium and gathering bubotuber pus. The marauders sang to their fanged geraniums to keep them happy, Muriel confunded hers, and Milos fell back on the Fraser method of growling at his. Prudence and Clementine had to have their boils seen to afterwards from the bubotuber pus.

oOoOo

Next it would be the electives.

Peter, Fred and Rory were taking Ancient Runes. Randolph had been run out of the class with much French invective for embellishing the hieroglyphs absently; though he had at least picked up enough to animate Egyptian hieroglyphs to sing an extremely free translation of their meaning and to complain about being illogical as a relief of his feelings; which when Hercule Maxime found out he asked if he might have the singing hieroglyphs and invited Randolph back into his class, with an apology for intemperate language. Hercule Maxime was easy going and rarely stayed irritated for long. Randolph had thanked him; but declined. Pictograms somehow offended his artistic nature for being neither one thing nor another.

The long exam consisted of a passage in Ogham and one in Ancient Greek as well as a hieroglyph passage to translate; and some short questions on the significance of several disparate short passages within the context of their backgrounds. Rory really enjoyed himself; he was also taking Comparative Magic and drew far too many comparisons and wrote too much. Fred stuck closer to the point – having read enough of his friend's Comparative Magic text books to add inferences of his own without losing sight of the main gist. Peter answered those questions well enough too but complained gloomily that he had lost the plot translating hieroglyphs and had got as far as being on boats on the river and the boats had flown away.

"You are a prune" said his brother amicably "It was the account of a duck hunt; it was the ducks doing the flying."

Pete struck his forehead crying 'DOH!' in what for muggles was a time honoured manner.

They then let off steam by animating Homer Simpson going on a duck hunt and speaking in hieroglyphs.

oOoOo

Rory and Randolph really enjoyed their Arithmancy exam.

The paper covered the best times to break given curses; and the best timing for named engaged couples to marry, given their birthdates as well as their names. With fictitious witches with names like 'Septima Hebdomad', reference to the figure seven was made twice; that Rory and Randolph both groaned over as an awful pun and proceeded to work in bases other than ten . Fred and Pete picked up on the 'Septima' without having remembered that hebdomad meant a set of seven, made significant by Madam Wenlock's researches, the twins were, after all, studying Arithmancy purely because it was significant to all other forms of magic and did not enjoy the subject. Of the other exemplars a witch named Hendeka Legges was a reference to the number eleven; those who had studied any Ancient Runes had no difficulty recognising the Greek word for eleven, and the muggleborn boys all managed a chuckle over the use of the bingo term of legs-eleven for the surname and so they all got the use of bases in THAT one..

Rory and Randolph managed to write out the first fifteen terms of the Wenlock series without trouble though the twins struggled; as too they had trouble working out the simultaneous equation showing where two ley lines met. In all however, even the twins thought that they had passed and Rory and Randolph, comparing notes, felt that they had probably actually done rather well. As Madam Granger was always happy to hold post mortems on exams they talked to her too and left her beaming.

The twins were just so glad to get it over and declared that no amount of post mortems would raise their grade so stuff the ruddy thing.

oOoOo

The twins and Rory were taking chanting; Randolph was artistic but had no sense of rhythm or timing at all, which exasperated Fred no end – their top chanter – since Randolph was such a fine arithmancer and should have no difficulty at all – said Fred – in just COUNTING.

Randolph had shrugged because though he could manage the theory well enough – and might even scrape a pass on that – he felt it hypocrisy to take an exam in which he could not manage the practical applications. He might at least, as he said, help with the design of chants for the others and would help them best otherwise by promising NOT to chant to help them out in an emergency. After all his brand of magic worked better by designing magically active patterns to effect a change which worked in the same way as chanting in that one built up layers of magic. Randolph wanted to learn tattooing because he was convinced one might lay in a shield charm in a ritually tattooed pattern for example; and it was a more layered and less crude process than the laying down of morsemorde on the arms of deatheaters by Voldemort.

He spoke to Lucius about this idea while the others were doing their written exam; and Lucius showed him his own left arm for the boy to study, as well as having Severus to hand of course as Lucius said.

"And I shall talk to Charlotte too and Erica" said Lucius "I don't think Charlotte has ever tried it, but I recall hearing Erica on the subject of magic patterns. I wish you will come and spend the long holidays with us at Malfoy Manor and discuss it with her; she'll be teaching art in magic when she leaves school NEXT year; if you and she can bash out a syllabus you might at least take an OWL before you leave school. Callum could join us too; he's a good artist but his skills are limited to moving pictures and divination. Erica has no interest in chanting either; but I think that she might benefit with the theory if you are finding some of it helps you with your pattern defining. She's been looking into the Mandelbrot sets and Julia sets."

"Crumbs, what a good idea!" said Randolph "Only possible to understand with computers that can manage that level of iteration – sorry sir, shutting up about muggle technology" he added hastily as Lucius looked wild eyed. Lucius laughed.

"I'm more au fait with the concept than a lot of wizards but there IS a lot of powerful stuff to be gleaned from muggle knowledge" he said. "And you who are muggle born are, in my opinion, possibly the future of some important research. Can you come to stay? I don't want to interrupt your holidays too much, obviously…."

"Sir, if Erica is happy to spend the time, I can come for the whole holiday" said Randolph "My parents don't really want me that much; and they're uneasy about my magic. They'd be quite happy to be told that I'm off on an art trip and wouldn't even ask any details."

"Some parents just don't deserve children" said Lucius "Then you must consider yourself to always have a second home in Malfoy Manor; and that is a partly selfish desire to watch new subjects growing and taking shape, and sponsoring them for the good of all our society. I LOVE new things!" he grinned.

Put like that, Randolph would feel no qualms about coming to Malfoy Manor whenever he needed a haven.

Meanwhile the other three marauders were wrestling with a definition of chanting, and for the design of various short chants to cover given situations. There were questions on poem forms and an essay on how a poetic form might affect a chant. This was one reason for sticking assiduously to all that Arithmancy. They had covered poetry quite ruthlessly under Severus who knew the value of picking the right KIND of poetry as well as just one with an arithmantically significant amount of syllablery. They escaped thankfully, damning elegiac poetry to perdition.

The practical was an hour long chant after ten minutes preparation to define an exclusion line preventing the incursion of iguanas. This was no big surprise – at least, what creature was to be excluded was never certain except that it was unlikely to be anything ever likely to actually be found in the great hall. The three boys arranged themselves carefully at hundred and twenty degree angles from each other and proceeded to chant. Fred absently added clapped counterpoint; his Arithmancy may not be that hot but right was right and he had a lot of good instincts where chanting was concerned. Rather like Draco, thought Lucius, whose theory was not as hot as some but who could pull a good chant out of the bag on the fly.

Fred rather fancied following up a career in quidditch as a match curse breaker, checking for pre-match shenanigans and dealing with the results of any over enthusiastic altercations. And for that matter, setting up barrier zones to prevent Bumphing, the hitting of bludgers towards the crowd.

They were all fairly satisfied however and glad to rest!


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Four of the class were taking Comparative Magic; Rory, Randolph, Clementine and Prudence. Prudence was the weakest in the class, though she enjoyed herself; but then Prudence was no academic heavyweight at the best of times. Though Prudence at least had a declared intention of staying on to do at least a couple of NEWTs whereas Clementine, who was also no academic heavyweight, reckoned that as she would be unlikely to gain NEWT results high enough to get an interesting job she might as well pack it in after OWLs and hope to bag a good husband while she was still all dewy and fresh. Clementine's declared ideal as a husband was someone rich and elderly who would die of overexcitement on the wedding night. She laughed a lot and added that she would settle for a dashing young prince providing he was not so dashing he had dashed away with the family fortune.

Pru had her motives for taking NEWTs. She had a rich great aunt who had disapproved of Prudence's mother's choice of husband, and of their choice of school for Pru. And she had said – in front of witnesses – that if that child managed to take any NEWTs and pass them she would make Prudence her heir. It was not about the money; it was about proving the acidulated old biddy wrong and sticking up for her parents. Pru had always hoped to do better than her mother – who had sent her to Miss Cackle's purely because she was unhappy at Hogwarts, as one of the least academic of the Hufflepuffs – since her mother had left school with only five OWLs. Great Aunt Aggie had sniffed when Pru had been about to start at Cackle's and said that if Pipistrelle – Pru's mother, and known as Pippa to any reasonable person – hoped that such a place would improve her daughter's chances she was very much mistaken. In fairness, under the regime of Miss Cackle, Prudence had to admit that she might NOT have done much better; but she had still planned to do her best. And ANY NEWTs meant one or more, and Pru was certain she would have managed to scrape Potions with Madam Hardbroom. As it turned out she was one of the best potioneers in the class and hoped for a good grade at NEWT; and hoped too to take three NEWTs, one more than Great Aunt Aggie. She was taking eight OWLs, and had every chance of passing them all; and was the only one taking Divination because she was good at it not as a soft option. And with comparative magic too she had a broader knowledge base than Great Aunt Aggie even if she was not as good as the others.

The exam involved choosing one essay question out of three; 'Compare and contrast literal numerology with Finnish naming magic'; 'Discuss the dual natures of Voodoo Loa with reference to traditional duality of nature of other theologies' and 'Reference three different magical traditions with comparisons of the importance of written and spoken word.'

Rory and Randolph cheerfully chose the first essay; both were good at Arithmancy to talk about numerology, Rory did Ancient Runes and was fluent enough in Finnish and Randolph knew enough Finnish to chat to Hanna and Antti and to make intelligent remarks about naming magic. Clementine and Prudence both chose to reference three magic traditions as being the broadest and therefore, in their minds, the easiest. Clementine picked the North American Indian chanted tradition, Ancient Egyptian written curses and the English use of incantation. Prudence also picked the English use of incantation, went with Chinese as a tradition using written curses and blessings, and burbled vaguely about African uses of repetitive chants in an illiterate society. She did not differentiate between any kind of African Tribal traditions.

The short paper consisted of questions regarding the way different cultures perceived the fey, shapeshifters, the use of name, music and even magic itself. Prudence covered most of the questions.

Rory was not popular with the girls by declaring that all the essay questions seemed interesting and easy and mentioned that the third one was a gift to the student of Ancient Runes if only the first had not been a gift to the arithmancer and the second just dead interesting. Randolph just smiled and murmured that Rory would have written too much as usual.

This was true enough – he got taken to task over it by Madam Devlin – so the girls calmed down.

This was all the exams over for the Muggle Marauders so they could afford to be laid back and they promptly asked permission to picnic for the rest of the time the exams were going on so long as the weather held. They were given permission to have fairly free rein and private instructions to keep their eyes open for anything that might be considered suspicious in terms of either Odessa or Fey activity. It was nice to be looked upon as essentially adult Marauders now; and the four appreciated their watching brief!

oOoOo

Prudence had little chance to rest from her exams as Divination came next. Clementine and Muriel, the two other original Cackle girls were taking this too. Prudence had to wonder whether it had been purely the teaching; or whether those girls of academically poor achievement had been those sent to Cackle's Academy. Now it was Prince Peak they were achieving more than they would have done under poor teaching but it was noticeable that she and the other two did less well in class and Clem and Muriel had picked Divination as a soft option since it was almost never failed unless one actually made a total farce of the written. But then, six of their number, who had originally started when the school WAS Cackle's, were now at Hogwarts; the six most adventurous who found Hogwarts to their taste and stayed. And it was said that half of them were Marauders too; and Marauders seemed to be drawn from the brightest and the best. Prudence might not be academic but she was at times a deep thinker.

The written exam involved interpreting dreams and discussing the significance of astrological birth signs and reading facsimiles of tarot cards. Prudence had no very great belief in the kind of twaddle written in such periodicals as 'Witch Weekly' or 'Divination – Tomorrow!' over how one should act according to one's birth sign; one might as well read the muggle magazines with the same astrological signs even though muggles had not kept up with the precession of the equinoxes. However, a skilled diviner could do a lot with the knowledge of precise phases of the moon, astrological conjunctions and time of day of the birth of an individual; especially by taking the Chinese tradition into account as well and so Prudence wrote steadily and knowledgeably. Interpreting dreams was a bit hit and miss too; and Prudence wrote cynically that much depended on the dreamer both remembering everything and telling it articulately and accurately since it was common to leave out any embarrassing bits. Tarot Cards were one of Prudence's favourite means of interpreting the future so that posed no hardship either. Clem and Muriel were doing their best too, resisting any urges to get facetious. They had not so many other chances to gain OWLs that they could afford to muck about.

For the practical they had to choose three different methods of telling the future and do their best; and it was acknowledged as hit and miss and affidavits from the class teacher on the talent of any pupil were accepted as additional evidence.

Prudence chose Tarot, tea leaves, and the rise of smoke from auspicious herbs. She had come across this in a book in the library, said to be developed from the techniques used by centaurs; and found that she was moderately adept with it.

Pru decided to stick to what she knew, unless some great event or catastrophe presented itself; and proceeded with each of her methods to give a detailed weather analysis for the region over the next two months. She was able to add to this the signs any muggle might read of the way the birds flew and how the plants grew; nature had an innate knowledge of the future as was important to growth and there was no sense ignoring that. She gave a date for a massive thunderstorm using the refined methods of magical divination and left it at that. With the thunderstorm likely to break before three weeks were up, her prediction could be checked for real as well as by other diviners.

At worst she would have a future as an insurance diviner – having absently informed the examiner that he really should stop dallying and have that medical transfiguration done- even if she could do no other job. And Pru was not really sure what job she might like to do. The subjects she was good at were so disparate!

Well, getting NEWTs to stick up a couple of metaphorical fingers to Great Aunt Aggie was the first priority.

oOoOo

Prudence was also the only one taking astronomy. It was not offered formally at Prince Peak; but as Pru was capable of getting some substance out of astrology, Severus had permitted her to study it with David Fraser as none of her year were taking Geomancy; so he had a time slot free. It was true that David had studied Astronomy to OWL with a view to using it with his Geomancy, since knowledge of astronomy was helpful to navigation; but he had a good knowledge of the constellations and the movements of the planets and had been happy to set aside time for Prudence, with Ellie along as chaperone, and actually helpful to Pru's understanding of Comparative Magic too since they tended to fetch up with tea and crumpets and chatting about astronomy and astrology in different cultures. And Pru regretted that only one short question on the Comparative Magic paper had dealt with that.

The written exam was in the morning, and consisted of naming constellations from their star patterns and labelling the major stars within those constellations; answering more detailed questions on the stars and objects in the constellation of Pegasus, a constellation Prudence knew well because it was a favourite of David's and fascinated him in that in the dark of the Prinzhorn where there was no light pollution one might see to the furthest object visible to the naked human eye, the Andromeda Nebula, the nearest galaxy, two million light years away. Prudence could not really comprehend such distances, though David tried to explain it; but it was impressive to know that light took so long to reach earth when to all observation light arrived as soon as it was emitted from anything close enough to be considered. It was hard to think that the sun was eight whole light minutes away – and how short a distance was that in comparison!

The last question involved calculating the motion of Mars across the sky; and though Pru was no arithmancer she had at least had the benefit of the first two compulsory years learning it to help out with that.

She went to bed for the afternoon feeling quite optimistic; and went to the practical late at night in a cheerful state of mind to find stars as indicated on a star map using the telescope.

She was quite pleased with herself! And her exams were now over and she might relax!

oOoOo

Enchantment came next and the written exam engendered a quarrel between the only two taking the exam, Leneli and Milos, normally good friends.

They had been given the story of the 'Three Brothers and Death' and had been required to write an essay on which of the three Hallows was the most useful and why. Milos considered the Elder Wand to be the best to get one's retaliation in first and harder since one needed every advantage against the enemy; and Leneli felt that the cloak was best as one could then hide and assess; and she called reliance on wands stupid as goblins had existed without wands until very recently and the best wizards did not bother with them anyway.

The Marauders intervened; and pointed out that the reliance on any artefact was laziness, but that in their opinion the cloak meant that you could better sneak up on the enemy and stick a poisoned knife in him, introduce him to the offspring of Tovarisch Kalashnikov, jinx him into a ball or merely hit him over the head with a skillet according to how the fancy took you; but that if Rose Hubble sat on the Elder Wand it would probably create even more disaster than a normal one.

This made Milos laugh at least; and he and Leneli made up. As Rory said, there wasn't a right answer, the way he understood it, they just wanted debate from it.

The practical called for them to enchant a candle, a book and a plate in a way they felt appropriate. Leneli made her candle light and extinguish on command, her book shout abuse at a borrower who held on to it too long, and her plate to hover on command at the height she desired it. Milos, less skilled, enchanted his candle to light on command, made the book spine fluoresce on command to be more easily found and the plate to never hold crumbs or dirt. As Leneli said, that was a boy solution. Milos grinned and agreed.

oOoOo

Leneli and Milos were the only two to be taking History of Magic too, which as Percy said was a bit of an irony since they were the only two who were not English and the exam was essentially about English history. It was however a valid exam – neither of them counting divination as valid – that was not fiendishly difficult – like Arithmancy or Ancient Runes – that required no wand work. And they had thought it, rightly or wrongly, easier than Comparative Magic.

The history exam consisted of a long essay question to be chosen from three, and a paper of paragraph-length questions. The long questions set were 'the goblin rebellions were caused more by misunderstanding than wilful malice of either side; discuss with examples'; 'the Roman tradition of magic largely replaced Celtic traditions and is still our primary tradition; discuss'; and 'the rise of Voldemort could have been avoided; discuss."

Milos chose to write about Voldemort; because the history had been told by the whole staff as well as taught as part of the syllabus. And as such he probably did better than he might have otherwise done because it was an almost personal history. Had Leneli stuck with that because it was easy she too might have surpassed herself; unfortunately as a half goblin, Leneli felt it behoved her to write about the Goblin Rebellions. And even so this might not have been a problem had Leneli been an English goblin writing of English goblin uprisings; but unfortunately she interpreted the situation with her own emotional response and from the point of view of a European, despite the relatively enlightened attitude of the modern Swiss wizards, in that she wrote a rather biased essay.

The short answers bogged Leneli down less but she had forfeited a good mark in her essay.

oOoOo

And then the exams were truly over!

"I'm looking forward to getting home to see my new bed!" said Rose Hubble "I've had an old sofa bed but it's been getting lumpy so dad said he'd get me a new one from the goblin-made Ikeaa-charm self assembly range. We took my old bed apart to get it small enough for the department of disposal to take away, and guess what we found in it?"

"Seven frogs, several chocolate wrappers and an infinite number of bent wands?" suggested AHHa.

"OY!" said Rose "I'm not THAT bad about wands! There were six pairs of knickers, twenty three socks and eleven knuts in it and assorted dice and exploded snap cards."

"Sounds like the sort of thing you cook up in your cauldron, Rose" grinned Albert "A cauldron full off hot strong socks!"

After Albert had put his ears back on and got rid of the tentacles, Granville said,

"Reckon you dad can handle a self assembling charm, Rosie Posie? Only I have visions of you using a self assembling bed and ending up inside the mattress!"

"You are rotten to Rose!" said Hanna-Leena.

"Only because we're fond of her, Hanna" said AHHa "And she DOES have a track record of being accident prone and so does her whole family."

"I'm afraid that's true" said Rose mournfully "But even DADDY can't fail to assemble a self-assembling bed; all he has to do is say the word that assembles it and how hard is that? Granville Jorkins you shut up!" as Granville whispered to his twin that it presupposed that Mr Hubble had not mispronounced it or sworn in the middle because he dropped a hammer on his foot and said something like 'IkeeOhMerlin'spantseeaa'

"Well if daddy HASN'T managed it I shall when I get home" said Rose with what she fondly hoped was dignity "And if you rotten lot don't stop falling about laughing I shall stop talking to you."

The fourth had just finished their end of term exams too and Rose had done better than she might have hoped and was decidedly confident that she had every chance of jinxing her friends if they teased her too hard even if she had caught Albert by surprise!

They were a friendly class, the fourth; there was not one that did not get on with the rest now Silvina was sorted out, and Sara Barbary had fitted in extremely well, delighted and surprised that there were no problem children in the class at all. Even Kate, who was too quidditch mad to be interested in anyone else if they were not of a like mind was not pushy about her hobby; and passed the time of day being polite enough to those she considered sad enough not to eat, breathe and dream quidditch.

And Silvina, discussing holiday plans, was delighted to be able to say that she would be spending the holiday with her family; because now she had one.

Holiday plans for the family did include keeping an eye on the Ukrainian Odessa and checking out what other Russian cells there were and deciding exactly what – if anything – to do about them. Russians, said David Fraser, were good plotters, dedicated terrorists, and terminally inefficient because they were secretive about the things that made them less able to function as plotters in the long term and inclined to boast about such things that should be kept secret.

Darryl was looking forward to being able to return to England without being beset by reporters; his brother had been placed in Azkaban and his mother had gone into a secure ward in St Mungo's where they had both vanished from the public eye and thence from the public mind; or at least the sort of mind, as Severus put it, that followed the 'Daily Prophet' with any level of belief in its puerile utterances which was the only paper likely to be any real trouble. And as they would probably have an extended visit to Malfoy Manor for the various weddings of the year, that would show the world that Lucius Malfoy was willing to receive Darryl Zabini.

And if Lilith Snape was to be believed, the whole point of having big public weddings was for the entertainment of juvenile marauders to jinx those guests who had no manners.

Darryl liked being part of the Snape family too; like Victor he was essentially a son of the family even though he did not change his surname. Victor and he had become quite close over the year; and that was like having a proper sort of brother. And Seagh too; who looked out for his more fragile brothers in blood. Victor was friendly with Ulrich of course; but there was nobody quite like blood kindred.

oOoOo

Severus decided to hold the end of term feast in the courtyard by moonlight, sending youngsters to lie down in the afternoon beforehand. The courtyard was decorated by myriad small coloured lights and fairies with tiny diadems bearing a lumos charm were persuaded to join in too as it was lit up. Ismenia had painstakingly taught some of the cleverer ones to fly in patterns that made words, the light remaining by optical illusion in persistence of vision like writing with sparklers. The fairy dances would hopefully wish the children 'happy holiday' though one fairy was still firmly writing 'holly hadipay'.

"Oh well, close enough" laughed David, finding a frustrated Ismenia "The intent is good and the kids won't care."

"I think she's just perverse because she's the cleverest" said Ismenia gloomily.

"More than likely; that's why we fought Voldemort" said David "Those of us who are the brightest are the most perverse; it goes with the territory."

Ismenia digested that.

"That makes it good then" she said "That she's er, asserting her independence."

"Something along those lines" said David.

Ismenia nodded; and after having stopped haranguing her fairy discovered that she could spell as well as the rest once they joined the party.

The party was a buffet and barbeque; there were seats and tables but nobody made a fuss about small people mingling and wandering about whilst eating, and that was a treat enough. Sausages, kebabs, and burgers all went into rolls – delicious locally baked ones that were still warm from the special baking of them – and were variously adulterated on the part of most of their small consumers with tomato ketchup or mustard. Rose Hubble of course managed to get at least as much tomato ketchup outside her as inside; but that was Rose and at least the uniform was readily washable. Fruit and salad sat in bowls, all protected with a fly-repelling charm, with pastries and sandwiches; another table groaned with sweet comestibles involving the most indigestible kinds of pastry, apples, cinnamon and almonds according to the custom of the country of Austria. And as always the staff were overcome by amazement at the capacity for demolishing food that young people had.

And after the feast, while everyone digested, Severus made a brief speech thanking them all for being hard working and making the lives of the staff a delight – generally speaking, apart from forays into competitions over whether pattern magic or chanting worked the best, he added.

This referred to the final jape of the year of the Muggle Marauders who had been arguing desultorily with Randolph over whether he could make a pattern be as powerful as a chant, which had led to a short stretch of corridor briefly turning people green – the chanters – and then making them find themselves walking on the ceiling – Randolph – before returning them to their natural state, which had been a combined effort.

The muggle marauders grinned happily. They had caught the headmaster himself who had heard their explanation over the debate and the serious spirit of thaumotergic enquiry in solemn silence before setting them each ten repetitions of Kipling's 'I have six honest serving men' to cure them of an excess of enquiry before fleeing to bury his head in a cushion so he could laugh unheard.

And after the speech wherein he adjured them to have a good holiday and forget work outside of their various assignments – which he reminded them went much easier if got out of the way in the first week or even on the train journey – he told them to sit back and enjoy.

And there were fireworks; fireworks from the Weasley Twins deluxe range in a splendid display. Ismenia had returned all the fairies to the greenhouse and made sure they were screened from the fireworks, since they either got scared or – more often – tried to compete with the fireworks, which could lead to accidents. The children gasped with awe at the splendid fiery concoctions, flying dragons and phoenixes, rockets with stars, rockets that exploded into fourteen tiny figures on fiery brooms who played quidditch until they dissipated, and one – which had been crafted lovingly by hand just for Severus – with a flying blue-flame Ford Anglia.

And Krait handed out sparklers and the children played with them until Severus and Krait gently shooed them in to bed.

They should be tired enough to fall straight into bed and to sleep without the usual last night chatter half the night; and any of Hermione's suggestions about remembering to clean their teeth fell in at least nine cases out of ten on deaf ears.

"A ruddy flying Ford Anglia! Those twins take the biscuit!" said Severus.

"And it's because they've come to love you dear" said Krait equably. "Is it still living wild in the forbidden forest do you know?"

"Last I heard" growled Severus. "Weasleys! Who'd have them?"

Two Weasleys and their wives threw a variety of jinxes at their stern headmaster now the children were safely out of the way and Severus laughingly extracted himself from an ingenious selection of curses which had managed the uncomfortable accumulation of dancing with jellied legs on backwards.

It was good to feel able to lighten up and relax with friends!

And then the staff finished off THEIR evening with the post NEWT students with a glass of elf made wine in Severus' study.

oOoOo

And next day the children were all going home and Rose trailing half her trunk behind her as usual for not having bothered to even try and pack it properly.

"I say, Victor, I am going to miss you being a big brother for me" said Crow Langstaffe.

"I was planning on staying on a year to study deeper" said Victor "And we ARE blooded; and, incidentally, so is my little brother, through the Hogwarts Marauders."

Crow brightened.

"That WILL be nice" he said "I say, I should like to meet him! If he's a Marauder, he's right over the cursing, right?"

"And how!" said Victor. "I'll see if I can ask if you can't be asked to the Malfoy Manor beanfeasts over whoever's getting hitched this year; Lucius invites random kids, mostly prospective first years, but others too. If you Bee Marauders all came you could meet the younger Hogwarts Marauders; they've had large groups three years running which is pretty unusual!"

"Maybe we'll be needed to fight Odessa when it comes from Russia" said Crow. "I'd really like to come and meet others; and my parents would be well flattered! I say, would you and Walter come and stay with me for a few days? I can get my dad to write to your parents formally for Walter and I can write to you to say if he says yes?"

"That'd be great" said Victor. "And though Crabbes aren't the top echelon, we are sort of in there with those he'd probably think worth knowing?"

"I'm afraid it does work a bit like that" said Crow sadly. "But dad has been listening about when I've managed to drop in about some of the things Malfoys say and do. And he might be just as snobbish – not that I don't love him 'cos I do – but he is kind of trying to be more not pushy if you know what I mean."

Victor nodded. He knew what the boy meant.

"I'm really glad you do love your dad, faults and all" he said softly "I don't really know either of my parents well enough to know if I like or dislike them; but as my dad has made it fairly clear that he thinks I'm probably to blame for everything from the invention of the blunt instrument by ape men to the spawning of Voldemort just my existing I guess the dislike is the greater feeling. Severus is my dad really."

"Well I'm glad you have someone; and Severus really is rather fine" said Crow. "Oh well, cheers then; see you sometime in the hols!"

And then he was on his way, and the Snapes and their wards left alone in Austria to make their own quieter way back to England for the holidays at their leisure.

**Finis**


End file.
